The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 13, 2004, Page C4, Image 22
Lake, sophomores set
for cross-country glory
Men’s golf readies key players
BY STEPHEN FASTENAU
TIIK (IAMECOCK
The USC men’s golf team will
look to build on last year’s success
when it kicks off its fall season.
Last year, head coach Puggy
Blackmon’s Gamecocks won a
school record-tying three team ti
tles and also added two individual
titles. In November last year, USC
won the Hawaii/Turtle Bay
Intercollegiate with a 12-over-par
300 on the last day. Then-sopho
more Robert Svensson finished
first overall with a score of two
under-par 214.
The Gamecocks added anoth
er team title in February, oblit
erating one of the strongest fields
of the year at the Mercedes-Benz
Collegiate en route to winning by
a tournament-record 27 shots.'
The team captured its third and
final title in March, winning the
Palmetto Intercollegiate in Aiken
with a three-under-par 861. Eirik
Johansen took the individual ti
tle with an overall score of nine
under par. USC finished seventh
in the SEC Championship and
ended the season by failing to
qualify for the NCAA
Championships by finishing 17th
in the team’s ninth straight
NCAA East Regional. The
Gamecocks ended the year
ranked 15th by Golfweek after be
ing ranked as high as eighth.
Gamecock golfers stayed busy
over the summer as Johansen
finished second in a local British
Open qualifier in Scotland, two
strokes from earning a berth into
the major championship. Senior
Jake Thompson qualified for the
U.S. Amateur Championship by
sharing medalist honors at the
sectional qualifier at Spring
Valley Country Club in
Columbia. The championship
will be held August 16-22 at
Winged Foot Golf Club in New
York.
USC returns a solid core of
players from last year’s team look
ing to build on its regular season
success and improve its perfor
mance in the season-ending
NCAA Championships. Last
year’s All-SEC selections
Johansen and seniors Martin
Rominger and Alex Hamilton will
be back.
They will be joined by senior
Jake Thompson and junior Robert
Svensson, who round out an ex
perienced tournament lineup.
Johansen led the Gamecocks with
a 72.35 regular season scoring av
erage and six top-10 finishes last
season. Rominger was second
with a 72.45 scoring average and
four top-10 finishes. Hamilton av
eraged 73.34 strokes and was third.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
Women’s golf returns 5 starters
BY JAY POU
TIIEOAMKCOCK
The USC women’s golf team
will be looking for another suc
cessful season this fall after a
strong finish in the spring.
“We’re really excited about the
upcoming season,” said head
coach Kristi Coggins. “We’ve got
some great talent coming back,
and I feel like all of our players had
great summers.”
The Gamecocks return five
starters from the 2003-04 season,
led by junior Erica Battle and
sophomore Jenna Pearson. Both
players had strong offseasons,
with Battle claiming a city cham
pionship and Pearson advancing
to the quarterfinals of the Public
Links Tournament.
The other returning starters in
clude Tiffany Catafygiotu, the team’s
only senior, and a pair of redshirt
players, junior Laura McCaslin and
sophomore Megan Miller. Look for
this group to provide leadership to
the younger players.
Coggins said the team will be
joined this season by a group of six
talented freshmen, and she expects
all the players to compete for play
ing time, but expects the biggest
contribution from Bly Worley.
The Gamecocks will need all
the help they can get from the new
players considering the quality
players from last year’s team that
were lost to graduation. The golf
cleats of Donna Shore Award win
ner Adrienne Gautreaux will be
particularly hard to fill, as she
posted USC’s best individual fin
ish last year, coming in 22nd at the
NCAA National Championships.
Departing seniors Marci Robinson
and Kory Thompson will be
missed as well.
USC will be looking to improve
upon last year’s season, which saw
some success but was cut short by
a 15th place finish at the NCAA
East Regional tournament. Only
the top eight teams from each re
gional advance to the NCAA
Championships.
The Gamecocks’ chances at a
championship appearance are
looking bright this season, espe
cially if you ask the NCAA selec
tion committee, who has already
extended an invitation to USC to
compete in the NCAA Fall Preview
Tournament in Oregon. The field
is composed of teams that are ex
pected to compete for art NCAA
Championship in the spring.
The field at the Fall Preview will
be very competitive, but don’t ex
pect the competition to slack off as
USC’s season progresses. Coggins
said the Gamecocks consistently
face the toughest competition in
the country, and she expects
spring’s Lady Gator tournament
and Lady Gamecock Classic to be
two important events for her team.
Coggins will be assisted this year
by volunteer assistant Clarissa
Childs and newcomer Marci
Komegay, who joined the coaching
staff in July as an assistant coach.
The Gamecocks will begin their
season in Oregon, where they will
take the first step in what they hope
will be a championship season.
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gamecocksports@gwm. sc. edu
BY WES WOLFE
Till-: CAM HOICK
The USC cross country team
has one major advantage going
into this season — returning se
nior Jenny Lake. As a junior last
year, Lake led by example by tak
ing three no. 1 finishes at the USC
Invitational, the Great American
Cross Country Festival and the
Clemson Invitational. She was
also the top runner on the team in
each meet. Lake managed to notch
the best finish of any USC runner
ever at the SEC Championships
in Athens, Ga., and the Illinois na
tive also recorded a personal-best
time at the 5-kilometer mark of
the 6K race at the NCAA
Southeast Regional.
“If Jenny stays injury free, it
is possible that she will improve
her place at SEC’s and at NCAA
Regionals and hopefully earn a
spot at cross country nationals,”
USC cross country head coach
Stan Rosenthal said.
As a team, the Gamecocks had
a few good finishes last year by
winning the USC Invitational and
taking third at the Charlotte
Invitational and the Clemson
Invitational. Though taking third
at Clemson, USC won the South
Carolina Collegiate
Championship by beating out
Clemson, Charleston Southern
and S.C. State.
However, with half the team
made up of freshmen, Carolina
was still limited.
USC ended up taking sixth
place in the Bulldog Stampede at
Georgia, seventh place out of 18
teams at the Great American
Cross Country Festival in North
Carolina, 10th at the SEC
Championships and 18th out of 26
teams at the NCAA Southeast
Regional. At the SEC
Championships, USC only fin
ished above LSU and Ole Miss out
of the 12 SEC teams. However, 14
out of the 25 runners on this
year’s squad will be freshmen,
and runners returning from last
PHOTO SPECIAL TO THE GAMECOCK
USC’s Jenny Lake looks to have a stellar senior year.
year’s team will need to step up.
Three sophomores will be ex
pected to improve upon their per
formances last year to help the
team move up the table at
Carolina’s meets this season.
Karen Wigal of West Virginia,
Tristan Rackow of Illinois and
Nicki Breves of Connecticut often
finished in two-three-four order
on the team behind Lake, and to|»
results from the sophomore trio
should place the Gamecocks in
the running for more top three
finishes.
The incoming freshmen are
also expected to have an impact
this year. Amy Wike of
Wisconsin has the fastest times
of the freshman class, while
Rebecca Chain of Connecticut
and Callie Rabun of Georgia
should compete for a starting spot
on the team.
The 2004 schedule for Carolina
will see the Gamecocks starting
the season at home with the USC
Invitational on Sept. 3, followed
by the Clemson Invitational on
Sept. 18 and a trip by the B Team
to Winthrop on Sept. 25.
USC will head back to the
Great American Cross Country
Festival on Oct. 1 and travel to
Auburn on Oct. 11. The B Team
will then go back to Winthrop on
Oct. 24. Carolina will round up
the year by competing in the SEC
Championships at Fayetteville,
Ark., on Nov. 1 and the NCAA
Southeast Regional at East
Carolina on Nov. 13 with hopes
of landing a spot at the NCAA
Championships at Indiana State
on Nov. 22.
Comments on this story?E-mail
gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu
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Season starts early; so get yourself ready
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Georgia Aug. 30 _
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South Flotfi Sept. 6,7, 8,13,14,15
Troy State Sept. 13,14,15, 20,21,22
I Ole Miss. Sept. 20,21,22
Oct. 4, 5, 6
Tennessee Oct. 4, 5, 6, 25,26, 27
Arkansas Oct. 25,26, 27
Nov. 1, 2, 3
UPPER LEVEL !
I SEC ROW SEAT
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Students must have your I.D. Card with you
to get into the Stadium with a Student Ticket. >
The Student Section is located in the North
^ Section of the Stadium Sections 23 - 34.
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For more complete information about student tickets, pick up a copy of the ‘
Student Football Information Book
at the Russell House lobby information Desk.
Student Tickets will be distributed at the Russell House, rooifi 205 9am - 4pm
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f‘udents are not guaranteed a student ticket to each game, only
the right to a ticket as long as student tickets are available.
# Handicapped or disabled students can get assistance bw calling 777-6742. i