The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, April 21, 1999, Page Page 8, Image 8
WOMEN'S GOLF
USC Head Women's Golf
Coach Kristi Coggins has been
named the SEC Women's Golf
Coach of the Year for the 1999
season. Indvidually, Golfer
Emma Lofgren was named All- f
SEC Second Team.
|Page 8
'Chicken
Curse' is
for real
?11 Listen up,
1 children.
Your old
Uncle Dave
is going to
tell you a
stoiy about
the infa- .
m o u s
; Chicken
%
\\ Curse,
David Cloninger which has
From the Cockpit mocked
USC athletics
ever
since the conception of college sports.
No matter what anyone says, the
Curse is real.
I've seen too many blown opportunities
for it not to be.
It all started when Gov. Benjamin
Tillman was asked to throw some support
into the funding of our fine university.
Tillman said that wouldn't be a
problem as long as the school was founded
in order to focus on agriculture
i :i:i i.;?
miu iiuiiuiiy piepmauuxi.
USC said this wouldn't be possible
because a state-run institution would
have to be more well-rounded than just
two programs.
Tillman, letting his tact and
diplomacy shine, calmly told the university
precisely what it could do
with its concept and went upstate to
Clemson, which welcomed him with
open arms and accepted his proposal.
Still seething about the fact that he
wouldn't get his name added to a real
college, Tillman crassly announced an
edict.
From that day forward, any athletic
team from the University of South Carolina
would forever be doomed to a life
of mediocrity and would always come
in second to Clemson.
(Why he picked athletics, I'll never
know, but I think it was because he had
a choice between that or causing our
cows to be blighted, and we don't
have any cows.)
Most people laugh and see the Curse
as just an excuse for USC fans, but the
real fans have seen it happen too many
times to be coincidental.
In 1984, our football team was 9-0
and ranked No. 2 in the nation before
a game at Navy, which was ranked
CLONINGER page 9
Keep Th
Traditio
For A
Lifetinv
}
EH
Ring Evei
NFL DRAFT
The SEC had an NCAAbest
37 former players in
the 1999 NFL .draft.
Kentucky quarterback Tim
Couch was the first player
chosen when he was taken
by the Cleveland Browns.
Carolina 1<
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Senior Second Baseman Jay Lambert throw
last chance to beat Clemson this year when
Track t
by Todd Money
Sporty Copy Editor
After winning 10 events
at the SEC Quad Meet in
Gainesville, Fla., last weekend,
the Gamecocks trave
to Philadelphia Thursdaj
for the most orestimous out
^door meet ot the year, the
Penn Relays.
Brad Snyder will look to
defend the shot put title he
won last year at the event,
SNYDER while Terrence Trammell
will be looking to improve
on his runner-up finish in 1998.
On the women's side, freshmen Demetria
Washington, Mikki and Me'Lisa Barber, and
Mechelle and Mikisha Lewis are familiar with
the Penn Relays, having run on relays in high
school.
The men's team is ranked No. 7 nationally,
while the women sit at No. 11.
The SEC holds the No. 1 spot on both sides,
with Arkansas' men and LSU's women both
ranked No. 1.
Snyder has quietly been a dominating force
in the NCAA for the past few years, winning the
past three national shot put titles (1998 indoors
and outdoors, 1999 indoors).
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Sean Rayford Photo Editc
s across the diamond to first base. USC has it
the Gameocks travel upstate tonight at 7 p.m.
ims prepa
The junior from Windsor, Ontario, has
been undefeated in the event as a collegiate since
" the 1997 NCAA Indoor Championships, where
t he finished third.
Snyder might have won for Canada in the
1 1996 Olympics, but he was battling back probr
lems that forced him to be redshirted outdoors.
A criminal justice major, Snyder would like
to work in law enforcement when he graduates.
But he also dreams of being a professional
1 wrestler.
In track, he has won six SEC titles and returns
to the SEC Outdoor Championships as the
defending champion in both the shot put and the
discus.
South Carolina's throwers put on a quite a
show at the Quad Meet, with three throwing personal
bests and NCAA-automatic marks.
USC's women won seven events, while the
men won three.
In team scoring, USC's women placed second,
scoring 171 points to Florida's 196.
The Gamecock men were third with 159
points, behind Auburn (182) and Florida (200).
Snyder snapped a personal slump at the meet,
shattering the school and track record with a
toss of 671 feet, 3 1-2 inches.
Snyder will look to capture his fourth consecutive
shot put title at the NCAA Championships
in June.
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SCHEDULE
Baseball at Clemson,
7: 15 p.m. today, Tiger Fi(
Softball at Coastal Carolii
SCdoubleheader), 5 p.m. to
Conway.
itiyt
u?y tunijutj
by Michael Strickland
Assistant Sports Editor
Will the real Gamecock baseball team please
stand up?
A week ago, USC was struggling after losing
two of three to Georgia on the road. In front
of a season-best crowd at Sarge Frye Field
Wednesday, the Gamecocks stumbled again,
dropping an error-plagued 8-7 loss to in-state
rival Clemson.
Then, USC dusted itself off and swept the
weekend's series against the No. 4 Auburn Tigers.
Tonight, USC looks to keep rolling and exact
some revenge as it takes on Clemson at 7:15
p.m. at Tiger Field. Clemson leads the all-time
series 147-97-2, and the Gamecocks have lost
11 of the past 13 meetings.
It has been two years since USC traveled to
Clemson, with the 1998 meeting being rained
out. Clemson beat USC 12-9 there in 1997.
The Gamecock squad is 27-12 overall and
11-7 in the SEC. It climbed to No. 23 in the national
rankings this week after being unranked
for several weeks earlier.
With that Auburn series, Carolina stretched
" its SEC Eastern Division lead to 3 1-2 games
over Florida.
Chris Spigner, a freshman from Hopkins,
3r will get the nod as the Gamecock starter against
Clemson. Spigner (3-0,4.73 ERA) will be making
his eighth start of the season. He has worked
re for Pen:
Senior Michelle Fournier threw past the coveted
200-foot mark for the first time in career, f
winning the hammer at 201 feet, 11 inches, an t
NCAA-automatic mark.
Fournier later placed second in the shot put, r
at 481- 3 1/2, and the discus, at 167,1-2 inch- c
es, an NCAA provisional mark.
Freshman Alana Robinson won the discus }
with an NCAA provisional mark and personal (
best, 167-7.
Senior Bert Sorin, a Dutch Fork graduate, %
threw a personal-best and NCAA-automatic mark /
of 212-4 in that event. p
ProcVimnn ATilrolo Rarhor urnn iVm AOO-ma
JL i VUUIUUU iUUWIV Jk/kU WV1 " Ull Wiv ^vu XXXV- 2
ter dash at 52.97 seconds, an NCAA provision- j
al mark. She also teamed up with twin sister " ^
Me'Lisa Barber, Washington and Ellakisha
Williamson to win both relays and set school
records in both. USC posted an NCAA-automatic q
time of 44.33 seconds to win the 4 x 100-meter
relay, a school record.
Later, the foursome captured the 4 x 400 re- ^
lay with a time of 3:34.11, also a school record. ^
Williamson also posted a win in the 100-meter
hurdles, at 13.74 seconds. On the men's side, (
Trammell won the men's 110 hurdles, at 13.52 ^
seconds. E
After taking the weekend off for exams, Car- (
olina will travel to the UNC Twilight meet V
May 9 before heading to the SEC Championships (<
in Athens, Ga., May 13-16. F
p r f
v'
FROM THE SIDELINES
"If a tie is like kissing your
dd. sister, losing is like kissing
your grandmother with her
^ teeth out."
day,
- George Brett
Wednesday, April 21, 1999
P* r1
32 1-3 innings, with the opposition hitting
.278 off the right-hander.
Clemson Head Coach Jack Leggett has yet
to announce his starter for the Tigers.
This Gamecock team, which has been a
virtual roller-coaster ride this year, is 5-6 on
the road this season.
Leading the charge for USC is junior AilAmerican
Brian Roberts, who's barely batting
less than .350 and leads the nation in stolen
bases.Adam Poe is the team's leading batter,
hitting at more than .400.
Head Coach Ray Tanner knew his team
would bounce back, despite the struggles of a
week ago.
"It's baseball," Tanner said. "You have some
tough losses, and you have some big wins."
One point of emphasis in tonight's game
should be the defense, particularly the play of
catcher Marcos Rios.
Rios has allowed 13 passed balls this season,
a new single-season school record. In last
week's loss to Clemson, Rios let two get by him.
Since then, Tanner has substituted reserve
catcher Tim Whittaker for Rios in late-inning
situations.
Clemson is led by senior first baseman Jason
Harris, who is batting .359 with 49 RBIs.
Fellow Tiger outfielder Patrick Boyd, one of the
nation's top-rated sophomores, is close behind
at .352 and leads the team in home runs, with
10.
n Relays
Last year, the men placed fifth at the
3ECs, while the women finished second, scoring
;he most points by a Carolina team outdoors.
Carolina's defending SEC champions include
[Yammell (110-meter hurdles), Snyder (shot put,
liscus) and Kylene Nixon (pole vault).
Both teams have a number of members who
lave already qualified for the NCAA Outdoor
Championships in Boise, Idaho, June 2 to 5.
Men's Automatic 100: Trammell (10.18);
100: Trammell (20.45); 110 Hurdles: Trammell
13.35); Shot Put: Snyder (67-3 1/2); Discus:
lyan Harrison (196-10); Men's Provisional
!00: Jimmie Hackley (20.64); 400: Hackley (45.86);
liscus: Snyder (191); Hammer: Sorin (212),
Harrison (207-6); 4 x 100 Relay: Hackley,
'rice, Trammell, Crenshaw (39.37); Women's
Automatic 100 Hurdles: Williamson (12.97);
!00: Mikele Barber (22.99); Hammer: Fournier
201' 1); Women's Provisional 100: Me'Lisa
larber (11.41), Mikele Barber (11.52); 100 Hurtles:
Williamson (13.41); 200: Me'Lisa Barber
23.16); 400: Mikele Barber (52.97), Washington
53.74); 400 Hurdles: Char Foster (57.89),
Williamson (58.19); 4 x 100 Relay: Mikele
larber, Me'Lisa Barber, Washington, Williamson
44.33); 4 x 400 Relay: Mikele Barber,
Williamson, Washington, Me'Lisa Barber
3:34.11); Shot Put: Fournier (50-3/4); Discus:
lobinson (167-7), Fournier (167-2).
JJuH
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