Posted December 16, 2024

Something to Crow About

In the most recent release of Graduation Success Rates by the NCAA, South Carolina Athletics was tied for third in the SEC with a 94 percent score, tying Auburn and Ole Miss and behind Vanderbilt and Alabama. South Carolina’s football GSR score of 95 ranked second in the SEC and among schools in the state of South Carolina and tied for ninth among all Power 4 schools. Nine Carolina programs had perfect 100 GSR scores – men’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s basketball, beach volleyball, softball, women’s soccer, women’s tennis, women’s track & field and volleyball.
South Carolina is the only school in Division I to be ranked in the final Top 15 in average attendance in the three “footballs” – men’s and women’s soccer and football. Carolina led the nation in average attendance in men’s and women’s soccer and was 15^th in football.
Three South Carolina football games are ranked in the Top 20 of most-watched Gamecock athletic events since 2009. Alabama (6.4 million viewers) is 11^th, Texas A&M (5.6m) is tied for 16^th and LSU (4.94m) is 19^th on the list. The Texas A&M game is the third most-watched Gamecock home sporting event since 2009.
In the past 12 months, Carolina has had 5 of its top 20 most-watched athletic events on television in school history. In addition to the three football games, the Gamecock women’s basketball national championship win over Iowa was seen by 18.867 million viewers, the most ever for a Carolina sporting event, and the women’s basketball win over N.C. State in the NCAA Tournament was seen by 7.1 million viewers, the 8^thmost watched event in school history.
With Shane Beamer claiming the 2024 SEC Coach of the Year (Associated Press), South Carolina now has nine head coaches on its staff that have won national or conference Coach of the Year in their college coaching careers. These include:
- Shane Beamer – SEC COY (2024)
- Lamont Paris – SEC COY (2023-24)
- Dawn Staley – 7x SEC COY (2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024) / 5x National Coach of the Year (2014, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024)
- Paul Mainieri – 2x SEC COY (2009, 2015 at LSU) / 2x National Coach of the Year (2009, 2015 at LSU)
- Kalen Andeson – 4x SEC COY (2015, 2021, 2022, 2024)
- Shelley Smith – 4x SEC COY (2009, 2011, 2016, 2017)
- Kevin Epley – SEC COY (2019)
- Josh Goffi – SEC COY (2013)
- Carol Gwin – 2x National Coach of the Year (2023, 2024 at SMU)
Jeremiah Donati was announced as the University of South Carolina’s 31^st Director of Athletics in a press conference on Dec. 5. Donati comes to USC after serving as the Athletics Director at Texas Christian University since July 2017, where he led the Horned Frogs’ athletics program to new heights including eight team national championships and 11 Big 12 Conference titles. He will begin his new position on Jan. 2, 2025. Donati succeeds Ray Tanner, who has led the Gamecocks since 2012 and will become athletics director emeritus and senior advisor to the president.
Nine former Gamecock standout student-athletes were inducted into the USC Lettermen’s Association Hall of Fame on Nov. 1. The 2024 class consisted of Pharoh Cooper (football), Dana Fulmer (softball), Melvin Ingram (football), Bob Kaczka (men’s track and field/cross country), Tiffany Mitchell (women’s basketball), Tommy Moody (baseball/contributions to the Athletics Department), Jocelyn Penn (women’s basketball), Jason Richardson (men’s track and field) and Shalonda Solomon (women’s track and field).
Colonial Life Arena is wrapping up a successful fall, entertaining more than 130,000 fans with nearly $11.5 million in gross ticket sales. Sold-out shows include back-to-back nights of Hootie and the Blowfish, Koe Wetzel, P!NK, Jelly Roll and Rod Wave playing the Arena on Dec. 20. Other record breaking highlights include: ’24 WWE SmackDown became the highest attended WWE event in arena history, P!NK became the highest grossing female artist in history to play CLA and Jelly Roll reached the Arena’s top 10 of most tickets sold in history.
Gamecocks+ is the official content network of South Carolina Athletics, featuring original storytelling content – above and beyond the already high-level video that fans have come to expect and enjoy – including new, never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes access, exclusive interviews, archival footage and so much more. Access to Gamecocks+ is included at no extra cost for all Gamecock Club members, Roost level and above. Fans who are not already members and want to watch Gamecocks+ content can do so by joining the Gamecock Club.

BASEBALL

The Gamecocks released its 2025 schedule, with a 30-game SEC schedule, the three-game series vs. Clemson and neutral-site games against North Carolina and College of Charleston highlighting the slate. Carolina opens the 2025 season on Friday, Feb. 14 against Sacred Heart and kicks off the SEC season on March 14 against Oklahoma in Founders Park.
Junior infielder/outfielder Ethan Petry is on the MLB Pipeline’s Top-100 prospects for the 2025 draft, coming in at No. 29. Petry also was No. 10 on D1Baseball’s Top College Prospects as he is at No. 10 on that list, joining fellow Gamecocks Eli Jerzembeck (129) and Henry Kaczmar (135).
Head Coach Paul Mainieri received the collegiate award from the Italian American Baseball Foundation on Dec. 5 in New York.
The South Carolina athletic department will name the playing surface at Founders Park “Ray Tanner Field” on opening weekend (Feb. 14-16) against Sacred Heart.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Carolina, 7-3 on the season, hosts arch-rival Clemson on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. / Carolina leads in the Palmetto Series so far in 2024-25, 4-0-3. (wins in women’s golf, women’s basketball, volleyball and football / ties-splits in men’s soccer, women’s soccer and cross country).
Collin Murray-Boyles, who was named to the 2024-25 Lute Olson National Player of the Year Watch List, leads the Gamecocks, averaging 15.7 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. Murray-Boyles leads the league in field goal percentage (63.9 percent) this season and is s second in the SEC with four double-doubles and 9.6 rebounds per game.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Gamecocks are ranked #3 in the nation with a 10-1 overall record.
Carolina is No. 1 in the NET after already playing five top 20 teams, which leads the nation, and winning four of those games – #8 Duke, #9 NC State, #9 TCU and #15 Iowa State. Its lone loss was to UCLA, which is now #1 in the nation, ending the program-record 43-game win streak dating back to the 2023 Final Four.
The Gamecocks’ 43-game win streak put the program in elite company, joining UConn as the only programs to have multiple 40-game win streaks in NCAA history.
The Gamecocks were named the USBWA Team of the Week for Dec. 2-8 with wins over #8 Duke and #9 TCU.
Forward Joyce Edwards was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week for a double-double against Iowa State (13 points/11 rebound).
Guards MiLaysia Fulwiley and Te-Hina Paopao were named to the John R. Wooden Award Top 50 Watch List.
Te-Hina Paopao leads the Gamecocks, averaging 11.6 points per game while Chloe Kitts is averaging 11.1 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

BEACH VOLLEYBALL

The Gamecocks finished the 2024 season with a 20-16 overall record, including an 12-4 mark at Wheeler Beach. The program has 20 or more wins in seven of the last eight completed seasons, and the 12 home wins are the second-most in a season in program history.
The team recorded three wins over ranked opponents in 2024, extending a streak of eight seasons in a row with at least three ranked wins.

CROSS COUNTRY

Teresa Cherotich earned Second Team All-SEC as well as SEC All-Freshman Team.
All 12 runners ran new personal best times at the SEC Championship with seven new Top-20 program times.
South Carolina finished 11th overall at the NCAA Southeast Regional with 296 points, the best point value since the regional meet moved to a 6K in 2000.

EQUESTRIAN

The #8-ranked Gamecocks finished the fall portion of its schedule with a 2-3 overall record.
Natalie Jayne tied the program record with a 94 on the Flat vs. Sweet Briar (Nov. 15), named SEC Flat Rider of the Month (November)
Carolina opens the spring schedule on Jan. 31 with a jumping seat competition against Lynchburg.

FOOTBALL

The Gamecocks finished 9-3 overall, 5-3 in the SEC. Carolina finished the season on a six-game win streak, which is tied for fifth longest active streak in the FBS and is longest active streak in the SEC.
South Carolina and Georgia played the most games (5) against the final College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings.
Shane Beamer named finalist for the Eddie Robinson National Coach of the Year Award.
Kyle Kennard was named recipient of the 2024 Bronco Nagurski Award, given by the Football Writers Association of America and Charlotte Touchdown Club to nation’s top defensive player.
Play against Illinois in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 at 3 p.m. on ABC Sports.
In voting done by Associated Press, Kyle Kennard was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year and first-team All-SEC. Shane Beamer was named SEC Coach of the Year and Nick Emmanwori was named first-team, and Rocket Sanders and TJ Sanders were named second-team All-SEC.
Nick Emmanwori, Kyle Kennard and Kai Kroeger were named first-team All-SEC by the league’s coaches while Rocket Sanders was second team and LaNorris Sellers and Torricelli Simpkins were named to the third team.
Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, offensive lineman Josiah Thompson and defensive lineman Dylan Stewart were named to the SEC All-Freshman Team, as voted on by the league’s coaches.
Finished regular season at 9-3, 5-3 in the SEC, ranked 15 in the final CFP rankings, 14th in AP and Coaches Polls.
DE Dylan Stewart and OT Josiah Thompson named to True Freshman All-America Team by On3.com.
DE Kyle Kennard and SAF Nick Emmanwori named to Reese’s Senior Bowl All-America Team. Kennard was also named first-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation and the American Football Coaches Association, and second-team All-American by Associated Press. Emmanwori was named first-team All-American by AP.
Comparing the SEC Media Days media voting and the final SEC standings, South Carolina had the largest increase, being predicted 13^th and finishing tied for 4^th (+9). The next highest improvements were Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Tennessee (+5).
South Carolina finished 15^th in the nation in attendance, averaging 79,329 fans per game. All seven home games were sold out, marking the first time since 2013 that has been accomplished. Carolina home games were filled to 102.28 percent of capacity, which is the highest for Williams-Brice Stadium since 2013 (102.68 percent).

MEN’S GOLF

Rob Bradley’s men’s golf team is currently ranked 18th in the latest Clippd.com golf rankings.
Frankie Harris is Carolina’s top ranked golfer, 52nd in the nation.
In the fall portion of the schedule, Carolina’s best finish was a second place finish at the Everett Buick GMC Classic in Little Rock, Ark.

WOMEN’S GOLF

Kalen Anderson’s women’s golf team is currently ranked third in the nation in the latest Clippd.com golf rankings.
Hannah Darling is Carolina’s top ranked golfer, 7th in the nation. Louise Rydqvist is ranked 21st in the nation.
In the fall portion of the schedule, Carolina’s best finish was a win in the ANNIKA Intercollegiate at Lake Elmo, Minn.
Kalen Anderson was named the co-head coach for Team USA in the prestigious 2025 Arnold Palmer Cup, played June 6-8 at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, S.C. Under Anderson, South Carolina has had six Arnold Palmer Cup selections most recently highlighted by the senior All-American duo of Hannah Darling (Scotland) and Louise Rydqvist (Sweden) for Team International last summer in Ireland.

MEN’S SOCCER

Coach Tony Annan’s squad finished the season with a 10-5-2 mark, including 5-4 in the Sun Belt Conference.
Three Gamecocks earned second-team All-Sun Belt Conference – Harrison Myring, Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez and Ethan Ballek.
Ethan Ballek was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team.
Jonah Biggar was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week.
Andrew Goldsworthy was named the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week.
Carolina scored seven goals in the season opener against Winthrop, it was the most in a match since 1999.
Harrison Myring’s 10 goals are the most by a player since 2015.
Ethan Ballek’s 23 points are the most since 2015.
Ethan Ballek was named Academic All-America Men’s Soccer Team by the College Sports Communicators (CSC).
South Carolina led the nation in attendance for the third straight season, averaging 4,492 fans per game. The average is the fourth all-time in NCAA Division I history. The season opener vs. Winthrop was the second highest attended match in program history with 6,622. The Clemson match ranked third all-time with an attendance of 6,400.

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Cat Barry was named third-team All-American by the United Soccer Coaches Association.
Carolina finished the season with a 11-4-7 record, 5-2-3 in the SEC.
The Gamecocks were ranked as high as #14 in the country during the season and defeated the No. 2 team in the nation (3-0 vs. Miss. St., Nov. 7) for the first time in program history
USC reached the SEC Tournament championship game before falling to Texas, 1-0.
Three Gamecocks named to the SEC All-Tournament Team (Cat Barry, Hallie Meadows, Brianna Behm).
Carolina reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to #6-seed Minnesota, 2-1. The Gamecocks defeated East Carolina in the first round.
Four Gamecocks earned All-SEC honors: Katie Shea Collins was named second-team All-SEC and made the SEC All-Freshman Team, Cat Barry and Gracie Falla were named first team All-SEC, and Hallie Meadows was named third-team All-SEC.
Carolina has made the post-season for 12 straight seasons under Shelley Smith. Smith recorded her 350^th career win during the season.
South Carolina grabbed its 150^th SEC win with a win over #13 Auburn on Oct. 27, 2024.
South Carolina led the nation in attendance, averaging 4,204 fans per game

SOFTBALL

Ashley Chastain’s first year as Gamecock head coach begins Feb. 6-9, hosting the Gamecock Invitational.

SWIMMING AND DIVING

The Gamecock women’s swim team is currently ranked 20th in the latest CSCAA Top 25 poll.
Junior Sophie Verzyl has been named SEC Female Diver of the Week four times already this season.
Gamecock swimmers have set two school records this fall – Madison Kolessar in the women’s 1650 freestyle and Kaden Smesko in the men’s 200 backstroke.
Carolina opens the spring portion of the season at Virginia Tech on Jan. 4 and at Auburn on Jan. 11 before hosting Georgia Tech on Jan. 25.
South Carolina’s men’s team won the 2024 CSCAA College National Open Water Championship in an 11-team field on December 15 in Miami, Fla., while the women’s team were the national runners-up out of 19 teams. The men’s team of Connor Fry, Ryan Turner and Umut Yildirim swam a combined 3:03.58 while the women’s team of Nora Fluck, Emma Reiser and Sianna Savarda swam a combined 3:07.20. Both were 5k races.

MEN’S TENNIS

Lucas da Silva participated in the NCAA Individual Championships, falling in the first round.
Junior Sean Daryabeigi is ranked 55^th and senior Jelani Sarr 77^th in the latest ITA Tennis Rankings.
The doubles team of Sarr and Atakan Karahan is ranked 85^th in the latest ITA Tennis Rankings.
The team portion of the schedule begins in the spring.

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Sarah Hamner and Kaitlyn Carnicella competed in the NCAA Individual Championships. Hamner fell in the second round while Carnicella lost in the opening round.
Hamner is ranked 17^th and Carnicella 39^th in the latest ITA Tennis Rankings.
The doubles team of Hamner and Carnicella is ranked 41^st in the latest ITA Tennis Rankings.
The team portion of the schedule begins in the spring.

TRACK & FIELD

The Gamecocks opened the indoor season at the Clemson Opener on Dec. 6 with nine overall wins.
The women won seven events, while the men won two.
The Gamecocks achieved 28 new personal best marks to kick off the season.
Carolina hosts the Gamecock Opener on Saturday, Jan. 11.

VOLLEYBALL

South Carolina finished the season with a 16-12 overall record, making the NCAA tournament for the fourth time under head coach Tom Mendoza and 11th time overall in the program’s 51-season history.
The Gamecocks finished with a 10-5 mark at home, averaging 1,231 fans with a single-game high of 2,068 (vs. Temple). It is the 11th double-digit win season at home since the Carolina Volleyball Center opened in 1996, the 1,231 average attendance ranks as fifth-highest in CVC history.
Graduate student Riley Whitesides made the list for First Team All-SEC as well as the American Volleyball Coaches Association’s 14-woman All-Southeast Region team following a career year. The Greenville, S.C. native averaged 4.47 kills per set, ranking her inside the top 25 nationally. In the regular season finale against Texas A&M on Nov. 30, she passed Shonda Cole’s 2005 total of 414 for fifth-most in a single season in the modern scoring era. Her 4.47 kills per set average is second-highest in the program’s all-time history, behind Cole’s 2006 average of 5.95. She nearly doubled her kill total from 2023 (239) while also hitting almost 60 points higher (.184 in 2023, .241 in 2024). She finished her indoor career ranked in the top 10 for kills (1,452, 5th), attacks (4,007, 3rd), service aces (100, 2nd), digs (920, 9th) and points scored (1,645.0, 4th) for the rally-scoring era (since 2001). Whitesides is the 16th woman in program history to make an AVCA All-Region team; overall, Gamecocks have collected 26 total all-region honors dating back to 1985. She is the first All-SEC honoree for South Carolina since 2022 and 24th woman overall to make the conference list since the program joined in 1991.
Columbia native Victoria Harris has elevated her hometown team’s defensive play with a record-setting season at libero, earning her a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team. Harris is the ninth Gamecock in program history to make the SEC’s All-Freshman Team and first since 2021. She ranked sixth in the SEC for digs per set, at 4.05, which also ranked 12th nationally among Division I freshmen. With her efforts on the back line of the defense, South Carolina lowered its total of service reception errors from 166 in 2023 to 103 in 2024 and ran a more efficient offense that improved its hitting percentage 25 points from year-to-year.
Harris’ 381 digs are the second-most by a Gamecock freshman in program history, behind only Fernanda Laires’ total of 470 in 1996. She had four 20-dig games this fall, most by a freshman in the program’s SEC era (1991), topped by a 27-dig performance on Nov. 13 at LSU. It was the most in a single game by any freshman Gamecock in the rally-scoring era and the ninth-highest total overall, earning her SEC Freshman of the Week honors on Nov. 18.
The Gamecocks swept the season series with Florida, winning in Gainesville on October 13 and in Columbia on Nov. 27. Carolina’s last road win at Florida came in 1986, which was also the last time that the Gamecocks won back-to-back matches over the Gators.
The team’s win over Florida on Oct. 13 marked Tom Mendoza’s 100th win as head coach of South Carolina and marked the seventh season in a row where South Carolina defeated a ranked opponent, extending the longest streak since joining the SEC in 1991. The Gamecocks have 11 wins over ranked opponents since head coach Tom Mendoza was hired in 2018. The program had just nine ranked wins total in the 27 seasons prior to his arrival (1991-2017).
Prior to the win over Florida in Gainesville, the Gamecocks had not won a true road match against a nationally ranked opponent since Sept. 14, 2003 (#14 Notre Dame, 3-1). The team had never swept a ranked opponent in a true road match in the SEC era (since 1991) before Oct. 13.
Junior setter Sarah Jordan had her best night to date as a Gamecock in the team’s win at LSU on Nov. 13, passing out 66 assists while guiding the offense to a .343 hitting percentage. It is a rally-scoring era record for most assists in a match of any length, surpassing Megan Hosp’s 65 against North Carolina on Dec. 6, 2002. The last Gamecock with more was Hosp during the sideout-scoring era, with 72 against Arkansas on Sept. 24, 2000. She is the first Carolina setter to go over 60 assists in a match since Courtney Koehler in the first round of the 2018 NCAA tournament against Colorado (Nov. 30, 2018). The team’s 75 kills in the comeback effort were the most since Nov. 11, 2007.
Whitesides also had a career night in the LSU win, her 30 kills are the most by any Gamecock since Sept. 6, 2013 (Juliette Thévenin vs. Clemson). The last Gamecock with 30+ kills against a SEC opponent was Shonda Cole on Oct. 1, 2006 (vs. Alabama).

Graduate student Ellie Ruprich joined one of the most exclusive clubs in program history on Sunday, Nov. 3, reaching 500 career blocks after recording four in the three-set win over Tennessee. The Beverly Hills, Michigan native passed Mikayla Robinson (496 blocks from 2017-21) for the rally-scoring era record in career blocks in set one against the Lady Vols, then reached 500 with a set-clinching stuff in a 29-27 victory in set two. The last Gamecock to reach 500 blocks was Stephanie Pflughaupt (1986-89) during the 1988 season. She and Lori Rowe (641 blocks from 1983-86) were the only two members of the 500-blocks club prior to Ruprich. Currently, across all three divisions in NCAA volleyball, Ruprich is one of only 14 women who have reached 500 total blocks. With three blocks in the regular season finale against Texas A&M, Ruprich ends her career owning the modern-scoring era record for block assists (403), solo blocks (117) and total blocks (520). Diving further into the numbers, Ruprich ranks third among all current Division I athletes in solo blocks, with 117, and is 11th in total blocks. She has either led or tied for the team lead in blocks in 65 of her 133 career games played and has five or more blocks in 46 games.
The Gamecocks swept Clemson on its home court on Sept. 20, the first road sweep over the Tigers since 2017.
In the team’s win over East Carolina on Sept. 17, the Gamecocks allowed just 38 total points to the Pirates, the lowest by an opponent since 2016. The Carolina offense also hit .507 in the win, the team’s highest single-game hitting percentage since 2008.