Feb. 5, 2005

New York, N.Y. – South Carolina track and field wrapped up day one of the New Balance Armory Collegiate Invitational and the Millrose Games in New York on Friday.

The Gamecocks started off the day with the women’s and men’s 3000m sections. Distance runner Rebecca Chain made a strong run to finish fifth with a time of 10:12.92, while Amy Wike ran a 10:23.80 to finish in 11th place. Daniel Williams represented the men’s team, finishing 29th with a time of 8:57.58. Also for the men’s distance runners, Matt Hoffman ran a 4:15.54 for a 11th place finish in the one mile.

In the women’s 400m, seven runners represented the Gamecocks to have three advance to the finals. Freshman Natasha Hastings had the strongest run of the event with a USC 2005 indoor top time of 53.05 to earn the top qualifying spot.

Women’s hurdler Tiffany Ross ran a 8.40 to win her heat and advance to the finals of the 60m hurdles held later Friday night at the Millrose Games at Madison Square Garden. Ross finished fourth in the finals with a time of 8.47. Jason Richardson earned a spot in the finals of the men’s 60m hurdles at the Millrose Games after winning his heat at the Armory with a time of 8.01. Richardson also finished fourth at the Garden with a time of 7.92.

The Gamecocks ran five sprinters in the women’s 60m dash preliminaries. Khalilah Carpenter, Alexis Joyce and Amberly Nesbitt each won their heats, but only Joyce and Nesbitt advanced to the finals also held at Madison Square Garden Friday night. Joyce and Nesbitt finished in fourth and fifth places with times of 7.46 and 7.54, respectively. Leroy Dixon qualified in the men’s 60m dash to advance to the finals for a third place finish with a time of 6.80.

In the field, South Carolina’s Dan McKenzie finished third in the pole vault with a leap of 4.65, while Monica Bozenski finished second, matching her personal best of 1.70m, in the women’s high jump.

The Gamecocks will be back at the Armory on Saturday starting with the men’s DMR section at 9:15 a.m. and in the field, the men’s shot put final at 9:05 a.m. The day will conclude with the women’s and men’s champion 4x400m relay at 4:50 and 5:00 p.m., respectively.

For complete results, go to www.armorytrack.com.