April 29, 2006
Philadelphia, Penn. – South Carolina’s Jason Richardson won the 110m hurdles Championship of America and Leroy Dixon finished as the runner-up in the 100m in the final day of Penn Relays. The announced attendance was almost 50,000 (49,771) with a Penn Relays three-day record 114,194 fans watching the Gamecocks compete.
USC ran season-bests in the men’s and women’s 4x100m relay and 4x400m relays with three improving NCAA regional marks. Tyler Trout qualified for the regional in the hammer as the USC men have 16 qualified in 12 events plus the 4x400m relay. The women have 20 women qualified in 11 events plus the 4×1 and 4×4 relays.
“Jason Richardson and Leroy Dixon’s individual performances were outstanding today,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “Penn Relays is one of the greatest athletic events in the world every year. It’s great for our team and for recruiting because all the great kids from the East run here. I was happy to see both 4×4’s perform well and the ladies are getting back into it (after a number were dinged up indoors). I’m thankful we leave here with no injuries. This is a good tune-up for the rest of the season. Not everyone performed well on our team. Last season we handled the pressure of Penn Relays, SECs and REgionals well, but not the pressure of NCAAs so let’s hope we got that out of our way. We need to be consistent with everyone. I am so thankful our team performed in such a way that the entire university can be proud of them. And proud of ourselves.”
Richardson won the 110m hurdles by crossing the finish line at 13.73. The runner-up, Eric Mitchum of Oregon, is ranked No. 2 nationally to Richardson’s No. 3 ranking nationally. Calling it not his best race technically, Richardson felt good about the race because he is still working to improve his fitness after an injury indoors. “Winning here shows me I can compete at this level again (after recovering from an injury indoors),” said Richardson. (nerves because of the huge crowd?) “I was singing ‘It’s going Down’ (Young Joc) in the blocks. I only get nervous at NCAAs and SECs – Penn Relays is supposed to be for fun,” said Richardson with a smile.
Leroy Dixon was the runner-up in the 100m at 10.52. Dixon has already run 10.25 in the 100m. It was the first time a Gamecock had been in the finals of the 100m and the 110m hurdles since two-time Olympic silver medalist Terrence Trammell in 2000.
Tyler Trout was ninth in the hammer, but picked up an NCAA regional mark tossing it 184′ 0.
The women’s 4x200m relay, run by Natasha Hastings, Amberly Nesbitt, X Giles and Shalonda Solomon finished as the runner-up at 1:32.05. The defending champions were only bettered by LSU (1:31.65).
Ronnetta Alexander finished as the bronze medalist in the 100m hurdles, posting a time of 13.22.
The women’s 4x400m relay was fifth with a season best time of 3:32.20, improving its regional mark (Giles, Hastings, Stephanie Smith and Solomon). On the men’s side, USC was fifth in the 4×4 Championship of America, running a season-best 3:07.02 to improve its NCAA regional time behind the legs of Jamil James, Keith Hinnant, Jon Fortenberry and Jason Richardson.
Other notable performances at Penn Relays on Saturday by the Gamecocks included: Brook Antonio was sixth in the discus with a toss of 177’10; Joe Schroeder was 17th in the javelin at 172′ 8 and Greig Cryer was 10th in the triple jump.
