Favors Grabs Silver Medal on Day 2 of the SEC Outdoor Championships

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of South Carolina track and field team saw Eric Favors snag a silver medal on Friday’s action at the 2021 SEC Outdoor Championships in Bryan-College Station, Texas. The Gamecock men had three scorers while Aliyah Abrams earned a spot in the 400m final on Saturday on the women’s side. 

“I mean, I worked for this,” Favors said after his performance. “It felt amazing, I was calm, cool and collected. It was a long flight but I handled it well. I’m a veteran and this is my sixth-year. It felt nice to come home with the silver medal.” 

“[Going into the last throw] I was thinking, ‘last throw, best throw.’ This was everything I’ve been working for,” Favors said. “I just wanted to throw it as far as I could at that point. It wasn’t a time to overthink anything, just wanted to go out there and have fun and enjoy it and I was lucky to get that on my last throw.” 

Favors joins his training partner Josh Awotunde and former teammate as outdoor SEC silver medalists with the second place finish the best since Awontune’s runner-up finish in 2018. Favors mark of 19.85m (65-1 1/2) is the third-best outdoor mark in school history and a personal record for the Irish international. The mark ties him for the 12th-farthest throw in the nation this year. 

“We really do have a great group back in Columbia, and we have some young talent coming as well,” Favors said. “We are all just trying to get better every day and it really helps to have them in my corner.”

The second-place finish also means Favors is a part of the All-SEC Second Team in the shot put, the second time he has earned the distinction from one of the most competitive conference’s in the country year in and year out in the shot put. 

Also earning All-SEC recognition was freshman high jumper Jackson Marseille. The true freshman finish in a tie for sixth in the event to become a two-time scorer for the Gamecocks this year. Marseille’s All-Freshman team honor gives him two this season after he earned the same honor indoors in Fayetteville. Marseille finished the competition with an outdoor-best mark of 2.12m (6-11 1/2) to finish sixth. 

On the women’s side it was Aliyah Abrams who qualified herself for the women’s 400m final on Saturday. The senior won her heat in a time fo 52.29 to advance to the loaded final and will have another chance to add to her impressive resume at Carolina. Freshman Alysia Johnson put down an impressive personal best in the same event, finishing 13th overall in a time of 52.91 in her outdoor conference meet debut.

Rounding out the scoring for Carolina on Friday was Elisha Brooks in the men’s decathlon. The outdoor rookie finished seventh overall in the event, the best finish for the Gamecocks in the grueling 10-event competition since Markus Leemet took third in 2017 in Columbia. Brooks point total of 6737 is just outside the program all-time top 10, just 39 points behind Greg Royster’s mark in 2006. 

Other notable marks on Friday for the Gamecocks included Jackson Junkins’ 11th-place finish in the men’s 400m in a time of 46.64 while Caitlyn Little finished 16th in a season-best time of 13.16 in the women’s 100m hurdles. 

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