The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, November 21, 2003, Page 11, Image 11
Shark-bitten surfer not
ready to give up sport
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KILAUEA, HAWAII - She was ly
ing on her surfboard, taking a
break after catching some early
morning waves, when the gray
blur emerged near her left arm as
it dangled in the Pacific.
Bethany Hamilton was sud
denly being jerked back and forth.
•|“I looked down at the red wa
r,” she recalled. “Right away I
knew it was a shark and I knew
my arm was gone.”
The 13-year-old lost more than
half her blood and all but four inch
es of her arm, though those who
witnessed the attack say Bethany
never screamed or panicked.
“There’s no need for that,” she
told The Associated Press nearly
three weeks after the Halloween
attack, in one of the first in a series
of interviews and TV appearances.
“I wasn’t that scared. I didn’t think
I was going to die or anything.”
Before the attack, Bethany was
a top amateur surfer who was ex
pected to turn pro. Now she is un
sure whether she will ever surf
competitively again. But she said
will not give up her passion.
^HTall and lean with blond hair
and a tan, Bethany has accepted
her misfortune with remarkable
serenity.
“There’s no time machine,” she
said. “I can’t change it. That was
God’s plan for my life and I’m go
ing to go with it.”
For all the nightmarish drama
the shark attack conveys, Bethany
recounts it with nonchalance: She
arose around 5 a.m. on Oct. 31,
heading out to do what she loves —
surfing with her best friend, Alana
Blanchard. After about a half-hour
of action, she took a break, dan
gling her arm in the ocean when
the 15-foot tiger shark attacked.
Blanchard’s father, Holt, surf
ing nearby, used a surf leash as
a tourniquet. Fellow surfers
towed her in on a surfboard. She
blacked out briefly, then woke up
ashore.
When she reached Wilcox
Memorial' Hospital, another
amazing part of the story unfold
ed: The girl’s father, Tom
Hamilton, had been lying on the
operating table, moments away
from knee surgery, when a doc
tor burst through the doors, say
ing the room was needed for a
shark attack victim. When he
heard it was a 13-year-old, Tom
Hamilton’s heart sank. He knew
it was either his daughter or her
best friend.
Bethany spent nearly a week in
the hospital and has remained
largely in seclusion since then.
When her bandages were re
moved — and her stump was re
vealed — one of her brothers
turned white. Her mother nearly
collapsed. And her grandmother
went outside and wept.
On Thursday, her stitches were
to come out and she awaited word
on when she could return to the
water.
“If I was like a person that just
quit surfing after this, I wouldn’t
be a real surfer,” she said. “I’m def
initely going to get back in the wa
ter.”
Bethany hopes to be fitted with
prosthetics allowing her to con
tinue not only to surf but also to
play the guitar. She plans to try
snowboarding for the, first time
this winter, and she is aiming for a
career in photography.
Around Bethany’s neck hangs a
glittering gold surfboard — a get
well gift from a family friend. It has
a diamond in the center and a bite
taken out of the top, just like her
own board, with its 16-inch gash.
Bethany said the attack is “pret
ty much all I think about,” but that
“If you don’t get over it, then you’ll
just be sad and cry.”
Volleyball
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
in the SEC regular season, out
side hitter Jennifer Bibber, out
side hitter Erin Heffner and set
ter Erin Price, have each sur
passed the 1,000-kill career mark
this season.
If Carolina is to win, it will have
to stop the Alabama trio’s attack
and watch for Bibber, Heffner and
•ice’s service aces. The three
tk among the best in aces in the
SEC and have put Alabama in first
place in the conference in that cat
egory.
Whoever wins the Alabama
USC match will play the winner
of the match between No. 2
Arkansas and No. 7 LSU.
The Lady ‘Backs (22-5,15-1) and
the Tigers (11-18, 6-10) have tan
gled twice this season, with
Arkansas winning both matches.
Arkansas has seemed almost un
stoppable this year, winning 17 of
its last 18 matches. The only loss
in that stretch was to Florida,
which only has one loss on the
year and is undefeated in the SEC.
LSU comes into the match on
•e business end of a four-match
sing streak. It will be up to out
side hitter Regan Hood to put up
the offense to counter the
Lady’Backs. Hood has more kills
than Kincaid with 463, but has 80
more errors than her counterpart
from Arkansas.
The other end of the bracket
features matches between the No.
1 seed Florida versus the No. 8
seed Kentucky and the No. 4 seed
Tennessee versus the No. 5 seed
Georgia.
Florida, who is ranked third in
the nation, is the odds-on favorite
to win the tournament. The statis
tics are simply staggering when
it comes to the Gator volleyball
team. Florida finished the year
with a 130-consecutive-match win
streak in the SEC regular season
against the same Kentucky team
that it faces today. The Gators
have also won their last 27 match
es and have won 82 straight
games, shutting out 25 consecu
tive opponents. The win against
UK earlier this week marked
Florida’s ninth-straight unde
feated regular season in the SEC.
Still, Florida head coach Mary
Wise isn’t taking any chances.
“Everybody goes in 0-0, and it’s
not a matter of playing great for
two and a half months; it’s a mat
ter of playing great for three
days,” Wise said. “That’s why ev
eryone goes into it with newfound
energy.”
The Wildcats (14-15, 6-10)
couldn’t get it done against
Florida on Sunday, and they’ll be
hard-pressed to do it this after
noon. Middle blocker Sissy
Canfield will do her best to lead
UK as she has done for the rest of
the season, leading the team with
a .335 hitting average.
The Florida-Kentucky winner
will play either Tennessee or
Georgia in the tournament semi
finals.
Tennessee (20-8,10-6) has won
four of its last five matches and
managed to get a higher seed over
the Bulldogs (17-12,10-6). UT won
the fourth seed by beating
Georgia 3-0, while Georgia only
beat Tennessee 3-2 earlier this
season.
Georgia will try and tip the bal
ance this time by utilizing middle
blocker Alexandra Oquendo. She
has been exceptional this season,
hitting 339 kills with only 109 er
rors to lead Georgia in hitting
with a .349 average.
Florida and Kentucky start the
action today at 1 p.m. at the
Volleyball Competition Facility.
Tennessee and Georgia follow at
3 p.m., while Alabama-USC starts
at 6 p.m. and Arkansas-LSU close
out the day with their match at 8
p.m.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
Football
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10
of sophomore quarterback
Charlie Whitehurst, who already
has a win over the Gamecocks.
Whitehurst is having a solid sea
son, completing 62 percent of his
passes thus far and ranking 14th
in the nation in total offense. Even
though he’s not from South
Carolina originally, Whitehurst
knows the importance of this
weekend’s game.
“People don’t care how many
games you win or how many
games you lose, as long as you
win the South Carolina game,
Whitehurst said.
Whitehurst has a dangerous
bunch of targets in Derrick
Hamilton and Kevin Youngblood,
who rank fourth and fifth respect
tively for receiving in the ACC.
The Tiger running game has im
proved from earlier in the season,
much in part to the rush-by-com
mittee scheme Clemson has start
ed using.
The tandem of Duane
Coleman, Chad Jasmin and Yusef
Kelly has boosted Clemson’s
rushing yards, averaging 149.5
yards per game in the last six
games. Collectively, the offensive
unit for the Tigers ranks third in
the ACC with 411.4 yards per
game. I
The Clemson defensive unit
has also improved, ranking third
in the ACC in total defense. The
Tigers have held six of eight ACC
r
opponents to below their total
yards and scoring averages this
season. The Clemson defense is
led by defensive back Justin
Miller, one of the best in the coun
try, and its two leading tacklers,
linebackers Leroy Hill and John
Leake.
All the talking and bragging
will end after Saturday night’s
game, which starft at 7 p.m. The
game will be televised national
ly on ESPN2. Interestingly,
Clemson has won just seven
night games since 1995. For 60
minutes, all the records will be .
forgotten, all border-crossing
friendships will be cut off and the
war will finally begin.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@hotmail.com
BRIEFLY
Student-athletes
honored for grades
USC has 45 student-athletes
on the 395-member SEC
Freshman Academic Honor
Roll, announced Wednesday.
Carolina’s number of 45 is the
second-highest total of any
school in the conference. The
student-athletes were named to
the list based on grades from
the 2002-2003 school year.
The top five USC student
athletes, according to GPA, are
women’s soccer player
Kimberly Criss, who has a 4.0
in business; softball player
Ashley Smith, who has a 4.0 in
civil engineering; women’s
soccer player Amanda
Thurber, who has a 4.0 in ex
ercise science; women’s golfer
Erica Battle, who has a 3.94 in
I
management; and men’s track
and field thrower Jacob
Minskey, who has a 3.9 in
chemistry.
Team Gamecocks
to collect toys
Members of Team
Gamecocks, the public-service
program of USC athletics, will
be collecting toys at the men’s
basketball game tonight for
the Children of the Carolinas
children’s home and Prevent
Child Abuse, S.C.
The toy collection is in cele
bration of the Colonial Center’s
one-year anniversary.
Fans are asked to bring an
unwrapped toy or gift along
with the $5 admission fee to the
game.
Johansen selected .
to play in classic
USC men’s golfer Eirik
Johansen was selected as one
of 29 collegiate men’s golfers to
! attend the 29th Annual Western
Refining College All-America
Golf Classic. The Classic will be
held at the El Paso Country
Club in El Paso, Texas.
Johansen, who led Carolina
in the fall with a 72.3 stroke av- '
erage, becomes the first
Gamecock player to participate
in the Classic since Kyle
Thompson was invited in 2000.
The Classic begins on Nov.
23 with a putting contest and
a long-drive competition,
while the tournament will be
gin with two rounds on Nov.
24 and the final round on Nov.
25.
-:
SPORTS CHALLENGE
THE CHALLENGE: Brad Wes Charles Adam Michael Jake
The Gamecock’s readers and Senkiw Wolfe Tomlinson Beam LaForgla Corbett
staff test their sports knowledge Sports Asst. Sports Editor in Managing News Reader of
with predictions of the Editor Editor Chief Editor Editor the Week
weekend’s games. (Rankings (71-49) (66-54) (70-50) (80-40) (78-42) (66-54)
are from The Associated Press.)
Alabama at Auburn Auburn Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama Alabama
3lsu at 15 Ole Miss LSU _ Ole Miss LSU _Ole Miss Ole Miss LSU
4 Ohio State at 5 Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan Michigan Ohio State Michigan
Missouri at 19 Kansas State Missouri Kansas St._Kansas St Missouri Kansas St. Kansas St
17 Iowa at Wisconsin_Iowa_Wisconsin Iowa_Iowa Wisconsin Wisconsin
Oregon State at Oregon _Oregon St. Oregon_Oregon_Oregon St. Oregon _ Oregon St.
California at Stanford_California California California California Stanford California
10 TCU at Southern Miss TCU TCU TCU TCU TCU So. Miss.
Duke at North Carolina UNC_UNC_UNC Duke UNC Duke
Clemson at USC USC USC . USC USC USC USC
20-19 31-27 24-17 35-21 28-18 28-0
SPORTS CHALLENGE’S 12TH-WEEK OUTLOOK: Head Designer Shawn Rourkwentan astounding 9-1 last week,
placing the selected staff member only two games behind Managing Editor Adam Beam, who fell apart by going 6
4. With the final week upon us, Beam and News Editor Michael LaForgia will battle it out for the top spot while
everyone else plays for third with Brad Senkiw, who finished 7-3 last week. This week's reader, Jake Corbett, should
have a contest with Assistant Sports Editor Wes Wolfe for the last spot in the standings. Both are hoping to have a
chance to catch Editor in Chief Charles Tomlinson. Thank you to all the readers who sent in picks each week. Be
sure to check out the basketball sports challenge next semester.
Friday Saturday Sunday ^
2003 SEC
(1inorida-Volleyball
ip.m. .i Tournament
(8) Kentucky
^ 3 P.M.
® SEMIFINAL
(4) Tennessee
4 JS
3 p.m. _1__
(5) Georgia _ i P i
FINALS ^ ‘ _
^2[Arkansas__ SEC TOURNAMENT
m CHAMPION
8 p.m. ___
(7) LSU
W 5 P.M.
SEMIFINAL _ _
(3) Alabama ‘ -yjr |
(6)USC
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