Aug. 10, 2010

By Wes Todd
Assistant Media Relations Director

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Three members of the South Carolina diving program will compete on the national stage this week in the AT&T National Diving Championship, which runs Tuesday through Sunday in College Station, Texas.

Assistant coach Allison Brennan, redshirt junior Courtney Forcucci and rising sophomore Rylan Ridenour will represent South Carolina in the meet as all three will compete in the 3-meter springboard event.

Brennan looks to build on an already successful season as she captured the bronze medal in the 3-meter event at the USA Diving Grand Prix in May. She has captured a national title at this event once before when she scored a 333.25 to take top honors at the 2006 nationals.

Forcucci returns to competition for the first time since suffering a leg injury in practice last November, cutting short her 2009-10 season. The native of Fort Mill, S.C., who transferred from Houston following the 2008-09 season won six of the eight times she competed in the fall of 2009 before her injury, earning SEC Diver of the Week honors once. Last year in this event, she finished 11th in the finals with a score of 245.60.

Ridenour took 12th place in the men’s 3-meter final last year at the USA Diving Nationals in Tallahassee, Fla., propelling him into his freshman year with the Gamecocks. He won twice on the 3-meter board during the 2009-10 regular season, then scored on both boards at the 2010 SEC Championships.

Preliminaries in the women’s 3-meter event begin at 1 p.m. ET Wednesday with semi-finals to follow. The men’s preliminaries will begin at the same time Thursday. Live scoring is available through divemeets.com.