Feb. 18, 2009

Complete Results

AUBURN, Ala. – Taryn Zack became the first South Carolina female swimmer or diver to earn an SEC medal since 2007 with her runner-up finish in the three-meter diving event Wednesday night at the SEC Championships at the James E. Martin Aquatic Center. In addition, South Carolina broke school records in the women’s 200 medley relay and 800 freestyle relay, and senior Kyle Cormier lowered his own 200-yard freestyle school record by half a second with his leadoff split in the men’s 800 freestyle relay.

South Carolina’s women currently stand sixth with 70 points in the team competition while the Gamecock men are eighth with 22 points.

Zack led the competition through her first four dives, but Alabama’s Carrie Dragland executed her final two dives to near-perfection to take the victory by a 366.50-360.90 margin. Dragland gave Alabama a sweep of the diving events Wednesday night with Aaron Fleshner taking the men’s one-meter title.

“Taryn really competed well tonight,” head diving coach Todd Sherritt said. “Last year as a freshman, she was a great athlete but she didn’t really know how to compete in big events yet. She has definitely shown that she knows how to compete now. And hats off to Alabama’s diver, she dove out of her mind tonight.”

The swimming night got off to an inauspicious start as the men’s 200 medley relay team of Trey Tharpe, Armin Hornikel, Nicholas Walkotten and Todd Weyandt was disqualified due to a false start. But the 800 freestyle relay team of Cormier, Rory Grigull, James Crawford and Andrew Atzhorn turned in its best time of the year and earned an NCAA `B’ cut with a time of 6:30.33. In the first 200 yards of that race, Cormier shaved another half-second off his school record 200 freestyle time with a split of 1:35.13.

“The first relay was disappointing,” head swimming coach McGee Moody said. “The false start was declared by .01 seconds, which is faster than the human eye can see. I wasn’t surprised that Kyle broke the 200 free record, he’s been swimming really well. But even in his swim, there were some mistakes that can be corrected. He needs to go lower and I think he can go lower.”

On the women’s side, both Gamecock relays broke the existing school records. The 200 medley relay team of Megan Sparks, Amanda Dunnigan, Sharntelle McLean and Kassy Kugler finished in a tie for eighth with Arkansas in a time of 1:41.57, breaking a two-year old record of 1:41.75. Later in the night, the 800 freestyle relay team of Lindsey Olson, Amanda Dunnigan, Christine Thompson and Claire Thompson shaved a full second off a five-year-old school record with a sixth-place time of 7:15.37. Olson’s leadoff split of 1:48.92 was a personal record and the fastest for South Carolina this season. Both women’s relay times were good enough for NCAA provisional qualifying marks.

“The girls’ relays swam very, very well,” Moody said. “We’re going to be in a lot of these team races this week.”

Auburn holds the men’s team lead with 118 points with Tennessee right on their heels with 110 points. On the women’s side, Florida holds the top spot through three events with 116 points, and Auburn is second with 88. The highlight of the night came in the women’s 800 freestyle relay as Auburn broke the SEC, NCAA, American and U.S. Open records with a time of 6:54.02.

The second day of swimming gets underway at 10 a.m. Central tomorrow with preliminary heats in the 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley and 50 freestyle. In addition, the Gamecock divers will look to keep the momentum going with women’s one-meter and men’s three-meter diving.

Live results can be accessed through AuburnTigers.com.

TEAM STANDINGS – MEN

TEAM STANDINGS – WOMEN