Jan. 9, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. –
The South Carolina swimming and diving team will end its month-long hiatus from competition and plunge into the home stretch of their dual meet schedule this weekend, kicking off a stretch of four straight Saturday meets with a tri-meet with the Duke Blue Devils and the Davidson Wildcats in Durham, N.C.

The Gamecocks are 1-3 in dual meet competition thus far in the 2008-09 season on both the men’s and women’s sides. South Carolina dropped their opening two meets to ACC powers North Carolina and Virginia before defeating archrival Clemson. The Gamecocks then fell at No. 5 Florida in early November before posting strong showings at the inaugural Gamecock Invitational and the U.S. Short Course National Championships.

South Carolina’s athletes and coaches are familiar with the Blue Devils, having competed against them once already this season in the Gamecock Invitational in November. Duke’s men and women each finished third in that event, one spot behind the second-place Gamecocks.

The Blue Devil men enter the meet with a 2-1 dual meet record that includes wins over UNC Wilmington and Maryland and a loss to ACC rival N.C. State. On the women’s side, the Blue Devils are perfect at 5-0 after defeating UNC Wilmington, Campbell, Miami, N.C. State and Maryland.

Davidson’s men are 1-4 in dual meets this season with the lone victory coming against College of Charleston. The Wildcats dropped meets to Clemson, East Carolina, Emory and William & Mary. The Wildcat women are 2-4 with wins and losses against the same programs as the men, but with an additional win over North Carolina A&T. Both Davidson programs took a first-place finish in the Davidson Invitational in November.

The three teams met for a tri-meet on the Davidson campus last season with the Gamecocks emerging victorious in each competition. The Carolina men routed Davidson 166-63 and defeated Duke 137.5-93.5, and the Gamecock women took care of the Wildcats 171-72 and the Blue Devils 145-98. The Gamecock men are 3-1-1 all-time against Davidson and 6-2 against Duke; the women are undefeated at 2-0 against Davidson and 3-0 against Duke.

The meet is slated to get underway at 2 p.m. at the Taishoff Aquatic Pavilion on the Duke campus. A full report and final results will follow on GamecocksOnline.com.