Clemson Swimming and Diving Plays Host to North Carolina

Jan. 13, 2005

The Clemson men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will play host to North Carolina on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the McHugh Natatorium. Clemson is currently 4-5 overall this season, following losses to top-ranked Auburn last weekend.

The Clemson men are led by senior Tommy Rappold who owns three season-best times for the Tigers. Rappold set the all-time Clemson record in the 100 fly with his time of 47.76 at the Nike Cup in November. Rappold also recorded a time of 48.88 in the 100 back, only .06 off the Clemson all-time record. The Tigers have been assaulting the record books this season as eight different swimmers have combined to set 15 Clemson all-time top-ten records.

The Lady Tigers are led by All-American Kim Routh who has four season-best times for Clemson. At the Nike Cup, Routh won the 1650 free with a time of 16:27.43, nearly 27 seconds better than the second-place finisher. The Clemson women have set five Clemson all-time top-ten records this season.

North Carolina enters the meet with a men’s record of 5-1 and a women’s record of 6-1. The Tar Heels opened spring competition with dual meet victories over Brown and Bucknell on Wednesday. Last season, the Clemson men’s team tied North Carolina 150-150. The tie marked the first split decision since the 1967-68 season when Clemson tied Wake Forest 52-52. Last season, the Clemson women were defeated by North Carolina by a score of 209-91.

Clemson is under the leadership of head coach Chris Ip in his third season. In his two previous seasons at Clemson, Ip has led the Tiger men and women to records of 20-6-1 and 17-11 respectively. Ip has coached seven athletes to appearances in the NCAA Championship and four ACC event champions.