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_ , t THE GAMECOCK ♦ Wednesday, April 16,2003 13 * GAME SCHEDULE «*• BASEBALL vs. Wofford, 7 p.m. Wednesday CONTACT US MEN’S TENNIS at SEC Tournament in Oxford, Miss., Thursday-Sunday Story ideas? Questions? Comments? ■ SOFTBALL vs. Alabama (DH), 5 p.m. Friday E-mail us at gamecocksports@hotmail.com Terriers to meet Carolina in rematch Wofford South Carolina / p.m. today Sarge Frye Field BY MATT ROTHENBERG THE GAMECOCK When the Wofford Terriers came to Columbia almost a month ago, they left with memories they would much rather forget. The Gamecocks (22-14, 7-8 SEC) took it out on the Terriers’ pitching staff, piling on a couple dozen runs in a 29-4 victory. But when Wofford returns to Sarge Frye Field tonight for a rematch with USC, the outcome might be a lit tle different. The Terriers (6-25, 4-13 ^ ithern Conference) come into tonight’s game with some more optimism, having won four games since last playing the Gamecocks. Their starting shortstop, Columbia native Tony Carbone, returned from an injury, and Steve and Brian Casey continue to lead the team in hitting. USC head coach Ray Tanner is also quick to not look past the Terriers. “Baseball is always a different game on a different night, and I think that will be the case” tonight, Tanner said. “Wofford had a pretty solid weekend against Georgia Southern. They (Wofford) lost a close game 4-1 and then they beat Georgia Southern. Georgia Southern is one of the tougher teams in the Southern Conference. Tanner said the Gamecocks’ previous meeting with the Terriers has no bearing on tonight’s game. “They’re playing better than they were when they came here. They had a bunch of injuries, but their shortstop is back in the lineup. Culley Kline is starting the game, and he pitched against us the last time, so they’re putting him out there again,” Tanner said Conor Lalor will get the start for the Gamecocks, having not pitched in a game in two weeks. His last action was against Clemson on April 1. Lalor also started the game against Wofford earlier this season, but this time around, Tanner is confident Lalor won’t be ineffective because of a lack of playing time. “He’s been up in the bullpen, and he’s been getting his work,” Tanner said. “I’m expecting him to be outstanding, to be honest with you, because I think he’s a bit fresher than some of the oth er guys. I think he’ll have a good game.” Following a weekend at Florida where USC came up with a pair of wins in a three-game se ries, the Gamecocks are in a tie with Florida at the top of the SEC’s Eastern Division. The Carolina offense appears to have rebounded from some doldrums it’s had in recent weeks. Second baseman Justin Harris, for one, has been one of the top hitters of late for the Gamecocks with his batting average of .356 and 12 hits in his last four games. “We’re swinging a little bit bet ter now. We have never been a poor hitting team, but at times, we haven’t swung as good as we’re capable. Down in Florida, we had 42 hits, so that was a good weekend for us,” Tanner said. “Justin Harris is seeing it good right now; he’s one of the hottest hitters we’ve got. We swung the bats well over the weekend, and we’d like to continue that mo mentum against Wofford and into the weekend series against Mississippi State,” he said. Comments on this story?E-mail gamecocksports@hotmail.com FILE PHOTO BY MARK SCHILUNG/THE GAMECOCK Conor Lalor tosses a pitch during an appearance against Clemson earlier in the season. Lalor will be the starting pitcher for the Gamecocks when they play Wofford tonight. Making a splash at Carolina * BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK The USC women’s swimming and diving team didn’t magical ly become 24th in the NCAA Championships a few weeks ago. To get the school’s best-ever fin ish in the sport, it took the tal ents and efforts of two of the div ing team’s finest divers. Tracey Richardson, who finished 10th nationally and was an honorable mention All-American, and Lauren King, who placed sev enth on the one-meter board and made First-Team All-American, 0 helped Carolina gain its strong finish. But to get to USC, the two traveled down two entirely dif ferent roads. Richardson, a sophomore and a native of England, has brought international ex penence and a tough work ethic to Carolina. She not only finished well at the NCAA Championship, but won the school’s first 2003 SEC championship by claiming the three-meter board title. “I never thought about win ning that,” Richardson said. “I kind of went into it like, ‘Just do your best; dive what you can.’” USC head diving coach Todd * Sherritt thinks Richardson ac complished something special in the SEC. "Our conference is very tough like it is in basketball and foot ball,” Sherritt said. “It is the best in what we do as well. “For her to win the confer ence championship is just huge, and she really deserves it. She did a great job.” It hasn’t been an easy path for the young British girl that left her family and home two years ago to join the Gamecocks. Richardson has had to adjust cul turally and physically. “It was a bit of a culture shock when I first got here, being down South and coming from a more quiet, reserved London side. It’s obviously made me a lot more in dependent,” Richardson said. “It’s 0 only been a good thing for me.” But being in America has only allowed her to grow as a div er. Richardson trains now like she never did before. When she first arrived, strength was her weakness, and Sherritt knew Richardson could improve. “Physically, when she came in here, she wasn’t nearly as strong as som of th other kids,” Sherritt said. “She has a great work ethic and is very, very smart.” Sherritt is not just the reason that Richardson has performed well but is also why she made the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Richardson said she first met Sherritt in 1999 at a diving meet in the Czech Republic and said that when she looked through the div ing program, “he was _ the best choice." ^B With all ^B of Richard- B son’s interna- ^B tional experience, B she has enjoyed 1 what she has ac- ’ complished in her short USC career. it s nice because you ^B spend all year working so hard, 1 and finally, you get something I out of it,” she said. Now that the season is over, 1 Richardson is looking to make fl the 2004 Olympics to represent I England and is currently prac- ■ ticing for the World I Championships in Barcelona, ■ Spain, in July. fl King’s route might not have I taken her around the world, fl but it’s been an impressive fl journey nonetheless. It would fl seem that King’s path would « be fairly short considering she only had to travel down Interstate 26 for 10 minutes to get to USC from Mj&L her hometown of Irmo. But, the sev ” enth-place finisher in the NCAAs didn’t think Carolina was the place for her when she graduated high school and instead chose to make a quick stop at Georgia. “I went to Georgia just think ing that maybe get ting away from home and having a different coach and a different aspect on diving would help,” King said. King, who has been training with Sherritt for six years, wasn’t getting the training she was used to and decided that she could always go home again. “It’s helped out a lot, coming back, and I don’t regret it at all,” she said. “I didn’t think a coach would affect your diving as much as it does, and I realize that it did. Todd’s a great coach.” King thinks that her stay in 8 was short because of living and just not ad ng to the situation of a erent place. The junior happy with the deci sion and said she is “right back where I was before, if not bet tor ” (Since King joined the Gamecocks, Sherritt has been greatly impressed with her level of competition. “Last year, I don’t think she placed on the low boards, so she’s gone from that to HP seventh and be [ ing an All P American,” bherritt said. “She’s a really good precision diver and has gotten a lot better.” King said she didn’t feel much pres ♦ SPLASH, SEE PAGE 14 Ww Tracey Hr Richardson, a f native of England, won the 2003 SEC Championship and was 10th nationally on the three-meter board. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK Lauren King finished seventh in the nation in the one meter board. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE ,* GAMECOCK Diving into the USG record books BY BRAD SENKIW THE GAMECOCK When USC’s Andy Bradley prepares himself for a dive, he doesn’t cloud his mind with too many thoughts or put heavy pres sure on himself. Instead, Bradley jokes with team mates, loosens up and gets encouragement from head diving coach Todd Sherritt. Evidently, it works be cause Bradley finished sec ond in the nation March 30 at the NCAA Championships in the one meter board and seventh in the three-meter board. The Fairfax, Va., native had the best finish in USC’s diving history. “I pretty much didn’t know how I was doing at all until right at the very end of the meet,” Bradley said. “It was a shock because I didn’t keep track of how they were doing. I knew I dove well. It was real-.. iy fun and I Andy Bradley finished ^ second In the one-meter board and seventh In the three-meter board at the NCAAs. His second place finish was the highest In USC diving history. PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK excited.” Sherritt knows what Bradley has meant to his team and loves his work eth ic. “Andy is probably the most talented guy we’ve ever had here in terms his of pow er, his acrobatic ability,” Sherritt said. “He’s made tremendous improvements since he’s come here. “He’s a very hard worker, and he’s really applied him self to the areas he needed to apply himself to in order to perform like he did this year. He’s really one of the most improved on the team.” That hard work and de sire to be the best has brought the All-American standout down the path he has traveled. Bradley, a sec ond-year biology student, took the long route.to USC with a brief stop at Brigham Young University. Bradley didn’t fit in with the coach ing style there and thought change was needed. He at tended the Mormon college because of his religion and a sense of family pride. “It was kind of always where I was going to be,” Bradley said. “All my broth ers and sisters went out there, so it was kind of like family tradition.” Luckily for USC, Bradley wasn’t pleased with his BYU coach’s older methods of training and thought he needed to be under the di rection of an up-and-coming coach. “The main factor in me coming here was my coach, Todd Sherritt,” Bradley said. “I’m always impressed with his enthusiasm and his mo tivation. “Diving is a lot ot tecn nique, like say, golf, and so tech niques change and evolve. ^Todd seemed like he was trying to evolve as a coach.” Sherritt attracted Bradley because of his intense coach ing style that combines tech nique and motivation. “Where I’m coming from with my coaching is I try to get a picture in my head of where they’re go ing to be,” Sherritt said. “Then all they can do is reach their full potential. It’s really a lot of belief in volved, and I think they feed off of that. “You can’t really drive anybody in athletics. I pre fer to try to lead them so that they have the power of deci sion.” Now that Bradley is un der Sherritt’s guidance, he is working towards his ulti mate goal: the Olympics. Bradley is trying now to qualify for the World Championships, and if he ♦ BRADLEY, SEE PAGE 14 - • Dynasty not in the making at college MATTROTHENBERG GAMECOCKSPORTS@HOTMAIL.COM The days of perennial champions are gone. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines dynasty as “a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a con siderable time.” Dynasty is a term bandied-about quite a bit in sports — just like franchise player, su perstar or future hall-of-famer — often to describe teams that dom inate their league year after year. Usually, this is the case in the pros, especially if you consider the cases' of the New York Yankees of the late 1990s or the Chicago Bulls dynasty led by Michael Jordan. It’s rare to hear the word dynasty associated with college athletics and, perhaps, for good reason. It is very difficult in this day and age to create programs that will stay dominant and win na tional championships one after another. There are a number of reasons one could explore, in cluding the departure of high schoolers and underclassmen for professional drafts, improved competition — both internally and externally — a general shift in attitude from team-oriented to self-oriented, the comings and go ings of coaches, or maybe just a lack of desire. Creating teams that are suc cessful on a yearly basis is not easy to do, but it is possible. Look at the job Pat Summitt has done with the Tennessee women’s bas ketball program. She consistent ly brings in top tal ent to play for the Lady Vols, but she doesn’t bring home a national champi onship. Is it her fault or her play ers’ faults? Hardly. But Tennessee could surely win it summitt all just about every season. There have been dynasties in college athletics, but very few, in deed. Under legendary coach John Wooden, the UCLA men’s basket ball team won 10 national cham pionships in 12 years in the 1960s and 1970s, including seven straight. The North Carolina women’s soccer team has won 16 national championships since 1982 and has been runner-up three times. Southern California had five straight hational champi onships in baseball in the 1970s. Is it impossible to build a dy nasty in college athletics? Challenging perhaps, but I wouldn’t say impossible. The dy namics of college athletics these days place very long odds on the chances of it happening. But it would be nice. I mean, there are plenty of teams out there that peo ple don’t like simply because the team wins all the time. Wouldn’t it be great if there could be one team that would garner the dis gust of a large part of the popula tion? I doubt it’s go ing to happen. Heck, nowadays, it’s difficult to string two cham pionship seasons together, as head coach Don Lucia and . his Lucia Minnesota Golden Gopher hockey team did Saturday. It was the first time in 30 years that a team won back-to-back NCAA men’s hockey championships. It hasn’t been done in football since the Nebraska teams of the mid 1990s and not in men’s basketball since the Christian Laettner-led Duke teams in 1991 and 1992. Connecticut could build a dynasty in women’s hoops, but it’s too ear ♦ ROTHENBERG, SEE PAGE 14