Clemson Swimming and Diving Stings Yellow Jackets

Jan. 21, 2006

Clemson, SC- The Clemson Swimming and Diving teams earned a victory in their last home meet of the season Saturday against Georgia Tech in McHugh Natatorium. Kim Routh won the 1000 freestyle (10:08.23), 500 freestyle (5:02.85), and the 200 freestyle (1:52.49) to lead the Lady Tigers to a 135-103 victory. This improved their record to 3-6 (1-4 ACC) for the season. The men also came away with a victory 133-100 behind eight individual event wins by seven different Tigers. The win got Clemson back to 4-4 (2-3 ACC) for the year.

The Lady Tigers came out of the blocks by finishing 1-2 in the first two events. In the 200 medley relay, Michelle Parkhurst, Ashley Shafer, Jen Grove, and Rachel Regone won the event (1:46.04) while Ashley Clay, Sarah Cefalu, Peg Carter, and Lauren Sindall came in second. Routh then teamed up with Cassy LaRussa (10:10.09) to 1-2 the 1000 freestyle. After another Routh win in the 200 freestyle, Regone (23.78) won the 50 freestyle, and Cefalu (2:10.19) took the victory in the 200 IM. Parkhurst captured the win in the 200 backstroke (2:04.16), and Routh, Summer O’Donnell (5:05.84), and Whitney Sandison (5:07.19) swept the top three spots in the 500 freestyle. Senior Shastin Leathers finished first on the 1-meter board for Clemson with a score of 273.00, respectively.

On the men’s side, the meet started out much the same way. Jay Crout, Andy Bergren, Andy Bergren (1:53.50) took the top spots in the 200 IM. Brian Regone (46.69), Stephen Russell (47.01) swept the top three spots in the 100 freestyle. They were followed by Charlie Dillon (1:53.22) and Crout (1:53.37) finishing 1-2 in the 200 backstroke. Geary picked up his second win of the day in the 500 freestyle (4:36.82) to put the meet away.

Clemson Head Coach Christopher Ip was happy with the win.

“I am excited for the men and the women today. We swam against a close cross-town rival and came out on top. The kids really responded and wanted to send their seniors off with a bang. This was obviously our last home meet of the year. We have both of our last two ACC meets away.”

“North Carolina State is next. They are going to be tough because we have a lot of the same strengths that they do. After that, we travel to Duke and have to take care of business there. Then we can start to zero in on ACC’s.”

Clemson will next be in competition when they travel to Raleigh, NC to take on N.C. State on Januray 28. The Lady Tigers are looking to make it three wins in a row, while the men will try and even their ACC record back up.