Bulldogs expected to be teams' biggest challenge
After returning from a two-month break last weekend, the South Carolina swimming and diving squads now prepare to face the Georgia Bulldogs, which presents the greatest challenge of the season.
"It will be our toughest meet," said USC coach McGee Moody in a press release. "It's hard enough to swim against those teams at home, but when you have to travel to them and do it in a day, it produces some really big challenges. Their women are some of the toughest competitors and best athletes that I've seen. Every year they are one of the top three teams in the country. Their men continue to improve each year, and they are going to be even better next year."
They have an outstanding recruiting class coming in next year. We have our work cut out for us. When we go into this kind of environment, we've got to be at our best."
After the men's and women's squads defeated Duke and Queens during Saturday's meet, Moody was pleased and a bit surprised by the teams' great performances coming off a long break and intense training.
"We swam better than a lot of us thought we would," Moody said. "It's hard coming off a long break and swimming your best. Some people were sick; some were hurt. A lot of people stepped up when we needed it."
Last weekend's victories further cemented the teams' belief that they will continue to have a good season, and USC is looking for revenge in Athens, Ga., for last year's loss in the Gamecocks' final home meet. Moody is looking forward to the meet and is pleased with his teams' individual performance levels in an extremely competitive conference.
"SEC is the fastest conference in swimming," Moody said. "Our goal for the men's is to break into the top five spots. It's a big improvement from five years ago. Our goal is to continue to improve, not just team but individual."
On the women's side, sophomores Rachael Schaffer and Amanda Rutqvist both placed high at last year's meet, with Rutqvist winning both the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke and Schaffer placing first in the 400 IM, and they are expected to do so again this time around. The Gamecocks will also look to score points with their diving squad. Senior Courtney Forcucci had a strong performance against Georgia last season, winning the 1-meter board with a 311.05 and the 3-meter board with a 330.35.
For the men's side, junior Rylan Ridenour will look to secure more wins for the Gamecocks again this season. Ridenour won the 3-meter diving with a career best 380.05 and placed second overall on the 1-meter board with a 328.70 in last season's meet against Georgia and Alabama. Ridenour also swept the men's diving portion of the meet against Duke, a true accomplishment for the junior, as Duke is well known for its superior diving squad.
The Gamecock swimming program is aiming to break into the top 25 polls, where they finished last season. A win over Georgia would help them do that.
"I feel pretty confident [about the rest of the season]," said sophomore Matt Navata after last weekend's meet. "All our groups have all been working pretty hard, and we've all be trying to achieve our goals so hopefully ... all of us will hit our final goals that we want to meet for the rest of the year."