UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
VOL. 116, NO. 127 • SINCE 1908
Tasting fest unites community | Page 4
Slow Food
Equestrian team tramples national competition
Ramya Kappagantula / THE DAILY GAMECOCK
This year marked the 30th anniversary of Relay For Life, and hundreds of USC students walked the Blatt Fields track.
Relay For Life raises over $164,000 for research Lauren Shirley @SURELYLAUREN
The rain didn’t stop a large crowd from gathering for USC’s Relay For Life at Blatt Fields Friday at 7 p.m. to support the American Cancer Society in their goal to raise money to fund cancer research. A nd , i n tot a l , USC r a i sed $164,136.42 through USC’s Relay For Life 2015. Taylor Boucher, a member of Relay’s exec board, was the top fundraiser of the night, bringing in $4,168.79 in total. Th is year marked t he 30t h anniversar y of Relay For Life and, according to Kristy Lagarde fourth-year public health student and director of external affairs, it
was a chance to celebrate through a throwback theme. Each team celebrated a different decade or time period and fundraisers and games corresponded with those themes. For 12 hours beginning at 7 p.m. Friday night, students, faculty and Relay for Life supporters walked laps around Blatt Fields in order to fundraise for the American Cancer Society. “I was so excited to see teams stick it out through the rain for the duration of the event,” Lagarde said. “I was almost expecting the event to suffer due to the weather, but the rain didn’t seem to bother anyone.” Par t icipa nt s t h is year were welcomed to the event with the
opening ceremony after which, the Relay officially began with the survivor lap, where survivors of cancer walked to celebrate their v ictor y over cancer. The next lap was the caregiver lap, during which those who had taken care of cancer patients were invited to walk. Finally, the rest of the Relay participants were invited to walk together during the official opening lap. Of t he 85 tea ms a nd 1,658 com mu n it y members t hat participated, each was asked to leave one member of their group walking the track at all time as a representation of the fact that cancer never stops, but there were SEERELAYPAGE3
Communities motivated by Carolina Cleanup initiative Lauren Shirley @SURELYLAUREN
A s a part of t he Eart h Day celebrat ion in Columbia, Pa l met toPr ide a n nou nced it s Great American Cleanup of South Carolina — Carolina Cleanup init iat ive. Du ring t h is event, efforts will be focused from April 18 through April 25 to promote cleaning up litter in South Carolina. E n t e r i n g i t s 17 t h y e a r , Pa l m e t t oP r id e , K e e p S o u t h Ca rol i na Beaut if u l a nd Keep t he M id la nds Beaut if u l have coordinated the Great American Clea nup wh ich, su r rou nd i ng Earth Day — April 22 — gives the community a chance to tackle the problem of litter in their own backyards and counties. The cleanup serves as a “localized
c le a nu p , b e au t i f i c at io n a n d community involvement program,” according to the website and for the next week will take advantage of the weather and clean up the state. Jacqueline Buck, the executive director of Keep the Midlands Beautiful, coordinated the events in Columbia via her West Columbia office. In total, the Great American Cleanup engages over 4 million volunteers to help beautify cities across the country. Pa l me t t oP r ide e nc ou r a g e s participants to think of it like a game, only the trophies to be won are a clean yard or neighborhood and eventually a cleaner South Carolina. “In 2014, the work of volunteers during Great American Cleanup events returned $179 million in
measurable benefits across the p a r t ic ip at i n g c om mu n it ie s ,” Jennifer Jehn, president and CEO of Keep America Beautiful, said in a press release. “The Great American Clea nup ma kes a mea n i ng f u l difference to the places in which we all live, work and play.” The South Carolina initiative does not have a set meeting time for most of its events, instead working through several levels of initiatives to help get as many people involved as possible. The first level of participation, “Instagrab,” gives participants a chance to take a picture of litter they see and posting it to Instagram, offering prizes for the first person to take a picture, the most unusual item and the most posts. SEECLEANUPPAGE3
Check out the International Fesitval gallery online at dailygamecock.com
Courtesy of Anthony Hall/Auburn Athletics
With its victory over Georgia, South Carolina now has three NCEA National Championships in program history.
Kelli Caldwell @KELLI_CALDWELL5
What a ride. T he No. 3 Sout h Carolina Equestrian team t rot ted past t he comp et it ion i n Wa c o , Te x a s a n d w o n it s t h i r d e v e r NCEA National Championsh ip by pulling off an upset over No. 1 Georg ia Sat u rday even i ng, winning 10-6 over the Bulldogs. T he v ic tor y g ave the Gamecocks their first title since 2007, and Sout h Carolina head coach Boo Major has now coached three dif ferent teams to a championship in her 17-year tenure as head coach. Starting off Sat urday bright and early, South Carolina k nocked of f home favorite Baylor in the semifi nals, beating the Bears 10-6 to advance to the championship. Heading into S a t u r d a y ’s s e a s o n fi nale, the Gamecocks k new t hey would have t heir hands f ull — t hey were goi n g up ag a i n s t a Georgia team that had already beaten South Carolina once and the Bulldogs won the SEC Championship just a few weeks back. Nonetheless, South Carolina came out on top when it mattered most and ended t he sea son w it h one of t he biggest w i ns i n program history. Major was impressed with Georgia’s riding abilit y in the f inals, but she couldn’t have been more proud of her team for fi nishing the season strong and winning the title. “I have to give all of t he credit to t he g i r l s b e c au s e t h e y came to Texas w it h t he goal of winning a nat ional t it le, and they did every single thing they needed to do to make it happen,” Major said. In Saturday’s final meet, the Gamecocks performed well i n most d iv isions, starting with equitation on flat with
seniors Adele Norton a nd A mber Henter. Nor ton a nd Henter gave South Carolina its fi rst lead of the day, put t i ng t hei r tea m ahead 2-1. In the western division, the Gamecocks’ lead was ex tended by ju n ior Abigail Pait and senior Sam Chiodo as South Carolina went ahead 4-2. Ju mpi ng was a lso no problem for t he Gamecocks as junior Samantha Smith and s o pho mor e Syd ne y Smith kept the Gamecocks ahead. Finally, junior Sarah Boucha rd f i n ished t hings of f as she d e f e at e d G e o r g i a’s Lauren Tieche 136.5128 in reining to seal t he de a l f or S out h Carolina. “ Fo r S a r a h Boucha rd to cl i nch t he meet for us — I t hink t hat was a fitting way to win the championship,” Major said. S out h C a r ol i n a’s whirlwind of a weekend began on Fr iday a s t he Gamecocks defeated sixth-ranked Fresno State w it h ease, winning 12-4 in the fi rst of three matches in a 36-hour span for Major’s team. M ajor w a s h app y with her team’s ability to overcome certain obstacles, while still advancing past tough competition. “ We were able to overcome a lot of the m i s t a k e s we m ade , and I think everybody was in a very positive mood and feeling very c o mp e t it i v e t o g e t out t here a nd get a win under their belt,” Major said. With several seniors leaving the team after this year, Major was ecstatic with the way the Gamecocks were able to finish off the season. “T h is is a g reat moment for our program and to send our seniors off wit h f ou r c h a mpio n s h ip rings, that’s quite an a c c o m p l i s h m e n t ,” Major said.