The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, August 23, 2004, Page 12, Image 12

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OLYMPIC UPDATE By ALEX RILEY THE GAMECOCK ♦ USC alumna Aleen Bailey took home a fifth-place finish in the 100-meter dash final Saturday night. Bailey, a member of the Jamaican track team, posted a time of 11.05 seconds. She had won her first preliminary heat and came in second on the next one. ♦ Senior Otis Harris continues to put on a strong performance as he cruised to the finals of the 400 meter dash with a runner-up finish in the semifinals. While Harris tries to bring home gold in the men’s 400, junior Lashinda Demus, graduate Tonique Williams-Darling and former USC volunteer coach Monique Hennagan advanced to the semifinals of the women’s 400. ♦ Another athlete with USC connections competing over the next few days is volunteer coach Melissa Morrison in the 100-meter hurdles. Morrison took home the bronze in 2000. ♦ Junior Shevon Stoddart’s Olympic run came to end as she posted a time of 56.61 seconds in her 400-meter hurdles heat. Stoddart finished fifth in that heat. ♦ Brad Snyder, a USC graduate and member of team Canada, was 11th in his flight of the shot put with a toss of 19.41 meters. He failed to advance to the finals and finished 20th overall. ♦ Maria Vento-Kabchai, pupil of former USC tennis star Maxsy Jimenez, fell in straight sets to No. 1 seed Justine Henin-Hardenne in women’s singles, 6-2, 6-1. OTHER NOTABLE OLYMPIC STANDINGS ♦ Paul Hamm’s gold medal in men’s gymnastics is stirring controversy in the Olympic community. Hamm edged out Yang Tae-young (bronze) of South Korea for the title. A judging error cost Yang a tenth of a point and proved to be the difference between bronze and gold. The error was made on Yang’s routine, which should have been a 10.0 on the start value scale of difficulty. However, it was rated at 9.9. If everything would have occurred exactly the same way, Yang’s teammate Kim Daeeun would have received the bronze instead of silver, Hamm would have been the silver medalist, while Yang would have taken home the gold. The South Korean’s have filed protest papers and some of the judges who oversaw the events were suspended. ♦ Michael Phelps continues to stun the world, in more ways than one. Phelps added his fifth gold medal to his collection Friday, bringing his total count to an astonishing seven. Phelps looked poised to help his team bring home the 400-meter medley relay title, but suddenly backed out in order to give teammate Ian Crocker, whom he defeated for his fifth gold, a chance to win a gold medal in this Olympics. The relay team managed to win the race and set world record time. Here’s the stipulation: Phelps gets a gold medal because he was a part of the qualifying team. Phelps has now tied the record for most medals won by a single person with eight and raised his gold medal total to six. ♦ Team USA’s softball squad continues to roll over the competition in unstoppable fashion, as they get their seventh straight shutout win 3-0 over Taiwan. Cat Osterman was dominating on the mound as she struck out 10, while Crystl Bustos crushed her third homer. ♦ Lisa Leslie led the lady Dream Team to another convincing win, as they cruised past Spain 71-58. Leslie poured in a team-high 19 points. The win clinched the first place spot in the team’s preliminary group. ♦ The men’s basketball team didn’t fare so well, as they fell to Lithuania 94-90 in the final preliminary game. The team did manage to squeeze into the remaining eight-team bracket for the run at the gold because of its victory over earlier teams who lost later in the day. The team will wrap up round-robin play Monday vs. Angola. ♦ Medal count: USA holds on to its overall medal lead at 49 medals (20 gold, 17 silver, 12 bronze) at the time of production. China continues to be second with a total count of 43 (20 gold, 13 silver, 10 bronze). Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edit THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Lashinda Demus, a junior athlete at USC, finished with the seventh best time in the 400m hurdles, but did not make the finals, as she was not in the top four of her own semifinal race. ■ CLARY Continued from page 10 Let’s break it down. We play Vanderbilt and Kentucky on the road, the two teams in the East whom you want to play on the road, and we’ve had success there in the past. We get Arkansas, who lost basically everybody, and Ole Miss, who lost Eli Manning, at home. Ole Miss will be better than people expect, but our players certainly won’t forget when the score was 35-7 and Eli was throwing 30-yard passes. I know I —i—ibbe-x won’t. Our only road SEC West game is at Alabama, who has been affected hard by its probation. The key here is no LSU. South Florida is decent but shouldn’t be a problem, and Troy State will be a win. With two weeks to prepare for a home game against Tennessee, and with a new quarterback, this will be the year we beat them. Don’t write off our home game against Georgia, whom we’ve played very tough the last two times here and a road game against Florida, who still is younger and not as good as in the past. And, of course, there’s Clemson. mmm * *"—m-’mmMfMms. -'—""is For the past 15 years, we tend to play better up there than we do down here, so I’m all for it. But that’s another column. ♦ ATTITUDE It all starts at the top. Coach Holtz showed us this summer he isn’t putting up with anything. By suspending seven players for summer II, Holtz showed everyone it’s about the team and not individuals. Our team will be more focused and hungrier than ever. Enough said. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc. edu mux BRIEFS Parks offer USC football fans chance to win prizes this season A sweepstakes promotion for South Carolina Parks will give Gamecock fans the chance to win free prizes this football season. Prizes include golf packages worth $120 at either Hickory Knobb State Resort Park near McCormick or Cheraw State Park in Cheraw. The grand prize includes two tickets to the Carolina Clemson game in November and a free weekend stay at historic Oconee State Park in Walhalla. The Gamecock Radio Network will broadcast the promotion on game-days and weekly drawings will be held to determine the winner of the golf packages. Gamecock finishes in third place at international golf tournament USC junior golfer Eirik Johansen finished third at the International European Amateur Championship in Skovde, Sweden. He was 13 under par for the tournament and shot under par in each of the four rounds. Johansen shot 70-64 70-71 at the par 72, 6,215-yard Skovde Golf Club. He was the leader after the first three rounds of the tournament. Fellow Gamecocks Robert Svenson and Martin Rominger also participated in the tournament, finishing 70th and 73rd respectively. _ www.dailygamecock.com Student Distribution Schedule Georgia South Florida Troy State Ole Miss. Tennessee Arkansas Sept. 1,6, 7, 8 Sept. 13,14,15, 20,21, 2 Sept 20,21, 22 Oct. 4, 5, 6 Oct 4, 5, 6, 25, 26, 27 Oct. 25, 26, 27 Nov. 1, 2, 3 \m* UppER LEVEL 1 \ : SEC.TOW SOT \ | 26U B 2 \ I *apt m im Hu Hit ~ r¥^£J| ■* i .• . -L> 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 i Section of the Stadium Sections 23 - 34. 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, room 205 9am - 4pm Students are not guaranteed a student ticket to each game, only Handicapped or disabled students can get assistance by calling 777-6742. the right to a ticket as long as student tickets are available. {,