Gamecock Swimming and Diving Falls to Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The South Carolina men's and women's swimming and diving teams were swept by the Kentucky Wildcats Saturday afternoon as the UK women outscored USC 130.50 to 109.50. The men fell 128-108 to the No. 18 Wildcats. Christy Williams won two events and Allison Brennen claimed the one-meter board. Diver David Ovelson won both the three- and one-meter boards, while Dan White and Christian Robledo had solid swim outings.

"We were not very sharp today on either side, very sluggish," said head coach Don Gibb. "We had some solid individual performances but overall, it wasn't there today. Christy Williams did a good job, as did Amanda Dunnigan. On the men's side, I saw solid performances from Christian Robledo and Dan White. We are very happy with David's diving finishes. It is now back to the pool to prepare for our final home meet of the year against Alabama and Georgia in two weeks."

USC began the meet on a high note by winning the 400-medley relay. Carly Hensel, Lindsey Tiberio, Williams and Diana Lopez swam 3:48.69 for the first-place finish. Williams then followed with a time of 1:51.52 in the 200-free to win, and Jessica VanAssen swam a season best with a time of 1:54.80 to finish fourth. Williams also won the 100-fly with a time of 55.81 and picked up her second event win of the day.

Amanda Dunnigan won the 400 IM in 4:21.74 and recorded another individual win for the Gamecocks. USC's highest place in the 50-free was Alyssa Cady, who improved her season best time to 24.39. In the final event of the day, the Gamecocks 400-free relay team of Lopez, Cady, Kelly Giese and Kassy Kugler finished with a time of 3:31.50.

On the diving side, Allison Brennen won the one-meter board with a score of 302.02, but finished fifth on the three-meter with a score of 310.58. Reigning Southeastern Conference champion Jessica Thompson scored a season best 333.01 to win the three-meter. David Ovelson was the bright spot on the men's side as he scored first in both boards. He won the three-meter with 379.13 points and the one-meter with 335.70 points. His three-meter finish is a season best.

The Gamecock men had good swimming performances out of White in the 500-free and Robledo in the 100-free. White finished second with a time of 4:33.65, while Robledo finished second in 46.34. Robledo swam 21.33 in the 50-free, enough for a third-place finish. Christian Kata recorded a time of 53.60 for a season high in the 100-back.

In the 100-breast, the Wildcats scratched the event but Justin Kata swam 57.84 to finish first, followed by Kyle Cormier (1:00.91) and Pete McGregor, who improved his season best to 1:01.85.

The Gamecocks will now take the next two weeks to prepare for its final home meet of the season, a tri-meet against Alabama and Georgia on Sat., Jan. 28. The meet time has been changed to 12:30 p.m. and USC will honor the 2006 senior class prior to the event.

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