Oct. 23, 2003
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s annual track and field banquet will feature two prominent International track figures as guest speakers. Team USA standouts Allen Johnson and Chryste Gaines will address attendees on Friday night, Oct. 24.
Johnson won his fourth World Championship in August, becoming the first hurdler to achieve that feat. He is a volunteer assistant coach for the Gamecocks and was an Olympic gold medalist in 1996. Johnson, who is coached by USC head coach Curtis Frye, has won six U.S. Outdoor titles and three U.S. Indoor titles during his career.
Gaines, earned a silver medal at the 2003 World Championships as part of Team USA’s 4×100 relay team. She was the 2001 U.S. Outdoor 100m champion and was the U.S. Indoor 60m champion in both 2001 and 2002. Gaines is also a three-time World Championships gold medalist in the 4x100m relay.
Carolina’s 2003 track and field teams again had outstanding seasons and collected numerous national and conference honors. In all, USC had 22 Outdoor All-Americans and 21 Indoor All-Americans as the USC women’s team placed second at the NCAA Indoor Championships and third Outdoors while the men’s squad placed third and tenth. The 2003 season marked the eighth consecutive top-ten outdoor finish for the Gamecock women, one of only three programs in the nation to make that claim.
The Gamecocks earned three individual NCAA titles in 2003. Aleen Bailey won both the 100m and 200m NCAA Outdoor titles and was named the SEC’s Female Athlete of the Year for the outdoor season. Lashinda Demus won the NCAA 400m Indoor title in March.
Erica Whipple scored the most individual points at the 2003 SEC Outdoor Championships to earn the school’s second consecutive Commissioner’s Trophy. The sprinter won her first SEC title in the 200m and established a new school record in the 100m.
Tiffany Ross won four titles at the NCAA East Regionals in May, capturing the 100m hurdles and 400m hurdles crowns and add 4×100 and 4×400 championships. Two weeks earlier, she notched her second consecutive SEC 400m hurdles championship.
Kenneth Ferguson earned the SEC’s Freshman of the Year award for his outdoor season accomplishments. He posted a school and personal record of 48.79 to win the conference’s 400m hurdles crown in May. Over the summer, Ferguson won two U.S. Junior Championships and three gold medals in the Junior Pan American Games.
Otis Harris twice set school records in the 400m dash at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, placing second nationally. Earlier in the year, he won the SEC Outdoor title in the 400m.
