Clemson Swimming and Diving Sweeps Gamecocks

Nov. 3, 2006

Columbia, SC – The Clemson Swimming and Diving teams went into the Carolina Natatorium and took two meets from the South Carolina Gamecocks Friday evening. The men were led to a narrow 150-148 victory with a strong performance by Attila Ruszka who collected three wins and a second place.

This improved their record to 4-2 (2-2 ACC) for the season. The Lady Tigers also pulled out a big win behind four first place finishes by Michelle Parkhurst, as they beat South Carolina 154-146. The women will be 3-4 (2-3 ACC) going into the half way point of their season.

The Lady Tigers started the meet solid, relying on their depth to take second and third in the 200 medley relay. Michelle Parkhurst (1:50.13) took first, and teammed with LaRussa (1:54.07) who finished third, swimming in back-to-back events. Parkhurst (57.28) kept the momentum swinging by winning the 100 backstroke, and joined sophomore Ashley Clay (58.28), and senior captain Ashley Clay (2:07.06) took second. LaRussa (5:00.56) and O’Donnell (5:02.35) finished 1-2 in the 500 freestyle, sweeping the distance events. To close out the meet, Regone, Parkhurst, O’Donnell, and Sindall won the 400 freestyle relay with a season best time of 3:27.22.

On the men’s side, Attila Ruszka, Jay Crout (51.53) took the top two places for Clemson, and Taylor Thompson (52.21) added a fourth place finish in the 100 backstroke. The Tigers also showed their depth against the Gamecocks as Ruszka (56.31), Andy Bergren (58.24), and Patrick Raisor (1:00.17) finished second, third, and fourth in the 100 breaststroke.

Mark Vahle (20.21) and Stephen Russell (21.11) recorded season bests, and teammed with Brian Regone (21.27) to finish 1-2-3 in the 50 freestyle. Freshman Mark Vahle (49.55) repeated the task as he also took a victory with a season best time in the 100 butterfly in the next event. In the last individual event of the meet, Ruszka came from over a second back in the final leg of the 200 IM to take the victory, touching the wall in 1:51.52.

Closing out the meet, Clemson finished second (3:03.51) and third (3:06.28) in the 400 freestyle relay.

Both teams will take two weeks off before heading to Chapel Hill, NC to compete in the Nike Cup Invitational, an event the men’s team won just a year ago. The women had similar success, as they finished third in 2005.