Seven Gamecock Women Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals at Regionals

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The University of South Carolina had seven women advance to Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal round at the NCAA East Regionals on Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla. Carolina was a clean seven for seven in events 400m or less at Hodges Stadium. 

The day on the track started off with Caitlyn Little’s performance in the 100m hurdles, nearly matching a lifetime best, clocking a 13.11. Little’s time makes her the No. 14 qualifier overall, and she will be in lane seven of the first heat on Saturday night. 

A short time later the women’s 400m group stepped up in a big way for Carolina. Aliyah Abrams won her heat in 52.21 and will bring the third-best time to Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal. Stephanie Davis (52.71), Alysia Johnson (52.89) and Knowledge Omovoh (53.17) also qualified for Saturday’s competition in the event with Davis and Johnson earning automatic qualifying spots while Omovoh qualified on time. 

The intermediate hurdle group continued the trend of advancing to the NCAA quarterfinals. De’Andreah Young posted a lifetime best of 57.45 in the 400m hurdles to win her event and enter Saturday’s competition with the third-best time in the region. Freshman Ashton Lindley joined Young in her outdoor NCAAs debut, automatically qualifying with a second-place finish in her heat. 

Hear from two of today’s highlight performances with @caitlittle_ and De’Andreah Young, who both advanced to Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinals #ncaaTF | #Gamecocks pic.twitter.com/bmiy54KmB6

— Gamecock Track & XC (@GamecockTrack) May 28, 2021

So much to cover from @CoachKarim1‘s group today! We caught up with our assistant to find out how it all went down today in Jacksonville #ncaaTF | #Gamecocks pic.twitter.com/40HsyM2uho

— Gamecock Track & XC (@GamecockTrack) May 28, 2021

Other notable performances on Thursday included Hailey Sweatman’s 4.17m (13-8 1/4) in the pole vault to finish 17th, just one bar away from making the NCAA Outdoor Championships. KD Young tossed a season-best 16.00m (52-6) to take 18th in the women’s shot put. Anna Kathryn Stoddard ended the night in the 10000m, posting a 35:03.48 in warm conditions to finish 28th overall after coming into the event seeded 44th. 

The Carolina men complete their weekend tomorrow with the high jump kicking off Friday’s competition at 1 p.m. ET. The NCAA East Regional on the men’s side will conclude at 9:15 p.m. with the 4x400m relay. The women return to action on Saturday afternoon. 

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ALL ESTIMATED START TIMES ARE IN EASTERN TIME: