Gamecocks prepare for multi-team meet
South Carolina’s swim and dive teams will return to action this weekend when they travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., to participate in the Nike Cup Invitational. The format for this weekend will be a bit different than what USC has experienced so far this season, but coach McGee Moody said it will help his team prepare for nationals later on in the season.
“Instead of the dual meets that we have had over the last few weeks where we have played just one other team, the Nike Invitational will feature eight teams competing against each other,” Moody said. “This will allow us to prepare like we will have to when nationals arrive, so our freshmen will get to experience that for the first time.”
The Gamecocks will match up against UNC along with Duke, East Carolina and Harvard, among others. Moody expects his team to be competitive against the wide variety of opponents.
“UNC always plays tough at this event and there are other schools here that are very strong,” Moody said. “I believe there will be some really fast swims and that we will be able to be very competitive in this event.”
Because of the different format, Carolina has taken a different approach in getting ready for the weekend. Moody said there will be more individual preparation and focus this week rather than the usual team-oriented preparation.
“There will be a lot of people working on a lot of different things,” Moody said. “At these meets, everyone has specific goals they try to meet since it is more of an individual event. We will have some people resting up, others will just train through the event and we have some individuals that are preparing for the U.S. nationals.”
This event will be especially important for the international players because some will be able to use the times to qualify for their respective country’s Olympic team.
As for his team’s performance so far this season, Moody said he is mostly been pleased with what he has seen.
“I think we are in a pretty good place right now,” Moody said. “We have a very front-ended schedule this season, having already played quality top-25 and ACC teams, so we have gotten some good competition. We still have some things that we need to work on, but I like where we are.”
The Gamecocks hope their tough schedule so far this season will prepare them for this invitational and continue to provide experience to the freshmen.
“This will be a valuable learning tool for us,” Moody said. “We have a relatively young team, so it will be interesting to see how they respond. They just need to swim out their plan. If they do what the coaches tell them to do, this event will be successful.”