The Gamecock women's swimming and diving team did its best to spoil Jeff Poppell's debut as Arkansas' new head coach, but you can tell him that.

While the Razorbacks were outnumbered in the pool with a short squad of only 11, they more than made up with quality by taking five races and qualifying two divers for the NCAA Zone Diving Championship in the the season opener.

First-year head coach Jeff Poppell was excited about his team's debut despite the 149-89 score.

"We're really happy to get such a great start considering the numbers we have," Poppell said. "We had a lot of personal best times and times that were better than last season for several athletes. To have that in the first meet when we're still training hard is a great accomplishment."

A perfect example was senior Kristen Thibodeaux in the 500 freestyle. Not only did Thibodeaux win the event, providing Arkansas with its fifth race win, she did so in a lifetime PR of almost five seconds with her 5:04.36. The win also was the first of her career against a Southeastern Conference opponent.

Jackson swept the 100 and 200 freestyle events, posting a 52.81 in the 100 and 1:55.03 in the 200. Fullop's victories came in the 200 IM with a 2:09.09 and the 200 backstroke with a 2:05.81 to beat her nearest competition by almost four seconds.

"It was a great opportunity to see our team race. Now we understand where we are as far as training and conditioning goes," said head coach Don Gibb. "We identified the areas that we need to work on, we found out who the racers are and who the ones who need to become racers. I thought it was a great start, and we look forward to going to Georgia next week."

After five events the Gamecocks led the Lady Razorbacks 53-37. The team started the meet and the season very strong with the quartet of Christy Williams, Lindsey Tiberio, Heather Roffey, and Sharntelle McLean claiming the 400-medley relay victory with a time of 3:51.80. McLean also won the 50-freestyle with a time of 23.91. Sophomore Amanda Dunnigan earned the team an early victory in the 1000-freestyle.

In the one-meter diving event, senior Lyndsey Havens won with a score of 303.60. Havens also won the three-meter with a score of 335.77. Both scores were NCAA Zone "B" qualifying scores.

"I'm really impressed with Lyndsey Havens," said diving coach Todd Sherritt. "She's a senior this year and through the years she's been working on some technique and it all really came together today."

The Gamecocks finished the meet in an impressive manner. Returning All-American Christy Williams won the 200-fly with a time of 2:03.19, while Lyndsey Tiberio, Mandee Cregar, and Kendel Fiorentino swept the top three spots in the 200 breaststroke. In the final event, the 400-free relay team of Kristina Delp, Kassy Kugler, Williams, and McLean claimed a near five-second victory.

The Gamecocks return to action next week when both the men's and women's team travel to Athens, Ga. to compete against the Georgia Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.