LAST TIME OUT – SOUTH CAROLINA INVITATIONAL FEB. 5-6

The University of South Carolina track and field team wrapped up an impressive weekend of competition on Feb. 6, at the South Carolina Invitational with nine different facility records going down. The combination of William Spencer Jr., EJ Richardson, Jackson Junkins and Bailey Rogers trimmed down their national time to a 3:07.95, which was highlighted by another impressive performance from Rogers who clocked a split of 46.39 as the anchor leg along with Richardson who’s split of 46.59 put Carolina in a good position after two legs of the race. 

It was the Filip Demsar show in the 60m hurdles, claiming the victory over teammate Stephon Torrence who made his home debut on Saturday. Demsar’s winning time of 7.81 is tied the eighth-fastest time in the country this season and helped him edge the likes of Clemson’s Lafranz Campbell who was ranked 11th in the nation, and ahead of Demsar, coming into the weekend. Torrence’s time of 7.88 was not good enough to win, but instead it gives him the 18th fastest time in the nation this year in his home debut. 

“To see Filip [Demsar] become as consistent as he has been has been phenomenal,” Frye said. “The next step for him is taking that next step to becoming an All-American. When you can run 7.80 back-to-back like he has done now, that puts him in a great spot moving forward. Stephon’s 7.88 is a good start. We’ve seen him be very dominant in practice so to see him come out and put down a time after a false start last weekend was a great sign. Putting these little things together as we get closer to the conference meet is really going to be a huge difference.”    

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP (click to expand)

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GAMECOCKS IN THE TOP 50

Last weekend the Gamecocks improved on a number of their top 50 national times and marks. A total of 10 men across seven events are ranked in the top 50 while the women have a total of 10 student-athletes in seven events among the nation’s top 50 in their respective events. Destinee Rocker’s seventh-fastest time of 8.13 in the 60m hurdles is the highest ranked performance across the two TFRRS national lists. 

A total of eight Gamecock events improved their national top 50 marks at the South Carolina Invitational with the men’s 4x400m relay reaching the highest ranking of them all at No. 8 with a time of 3:07.95. Among the improvements was Brooke Wilson and Heather Stone entering the 5000m top 50 rankings for the first time this season. Both of the seniors either improved or entered the all-time program top 10 in the event with Stone winning the event in a time of 17:10.39. 
 

QUARTER MILE GROUPS RANKED IN TOP 5

The USTFCCCA released its weekly ‘Event Squad’ rankings and the Gamecocks sat at No. 5 in both the men’s and women’s 400m rankings. Carolina is joined by Texas A&M as the only team in the country to have both the men’s and women’s 400m groups to be ranked in the top five. South Carolina is paced by William Spencer Jr. on the men’s side with a season-best time of 46.78 and Alysia Johnson on the women’s side with a time of 54.00. 

GAMECOCK WOMEN RANKED 22TH IN LATEST TEAM RANKINGS

The USTFCCCA released the first team rankings of the 2021 indoor season with the Gamecocks entering at No. 22 on the women’s side. The SEC have nine men’s teams ranked inside the top 25, the most in the NCAA among any conference, while the SEC women’s teams have an NCAA-leading 10 teams in the top 25. 

USC INDOOR OPEN TO BE STREAMED

For the second time at the Carolina Indoor Track and Field Complex there will be a broadcasted track and field competition. The USC Indoor Open will have a stream broadcasted on SEC Network +, starting on Saturday at 11 a.m. The broadcast can be viewed on the ESPN app on smart devices and also watched on desktop and laptops with a valid subscription. 

To watch the stream live on Saturday, click here.

GAMECOCKS PACE THE SEC IN FALL ACADEMIC HONOR ROLL

The 2021 Fall SEC Academic Honor Roll was announced on Tuesday by commissioner Greg Sankey. South Carolina had 115 student-athletes across five sports make the list, the third year in a row reaching triple digits. That total also leads the conference, marking the 13^th time in the last 15 years that the Gamecocks led the way in fall honor roll members. The Cross Country team posted it’s fourth-highest GPA in history with a 3.489 team GPA with 24 individuals from the team earning Academic Honor Roll status. 
 
In total, 1,263 SEC student-athletes earned a place on the honor roll, based on grades from the 2020 Spring, Summer and Fall terms. The South Carolina Athletics Department as a whole concluded the Fall 2020 semester with a departmental grade point average (GPA) of 3.299. It marks the department’s fifth-highest GPA in history and the 28th-consecutive semester with a departmental GPA above 3.0. Fourteen of 18 teams earned a GPA of 3.0 or better during the fall semester.

MEET INFORMATION

During the 2021 season, no fans will be permitted at South Carolina Track and Field events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Fans can follow the live results on Adkins Trak or watch the SEC Network + live stream and check with GamecocksOnline.com for updated information on the meet. 

There are no unattached athletes permitted to compete at the USC Indoor Open, with an exception for any current student-athletes who are considered a redshirt. For more information on every home meet hosted by the Gamecocks, visit our Home Meet Information page here. Please check back later for final heat sheets. 

BOB POLLOCK MEET JAN. 29-30

The Gamecocks traveled for the first time during the 2021 indoor season when they traveled to the Bob Pollock Meet in Clemson, S.C. Senior Destinee Rocker (60m hurdles) and sophomore William Spencer Jr. (400m) led the way on the opening day of competition with outstanding individual performances that put both of them inside the top 20 in the country in their respective events. Then on Saturday Carolina finished up the meet in style with a pair of top-five national times in the 4x400m relay. Led by a season-debut from Stephanie Davis on the women’s side and William Spencer Jr. and EJ Richardson on the men’s side the Gamecocks took home the collegiate victories in the 4x400m relay. 

“Our team did a great job adjusting to competing on the road,” South Carolina head coach Curtis Frye said. “I would hate to be going to the conference meet and never have the change to get away from our home environment. It was a ton of fun this weekend, our women are running a bit better every week. Getting Stephanie [Davis] out for her first run of the season was a great step forward for her. We look forward to getting her out for another one next weekend back at home. Next week is going to be a great week to wind up everyone with just two more contests before the conference meet. It’ll be great to get back home and really get ready to roll.”   

CAROLINA CHALLENGE JAN. 23

The Gamecocks hosted the Carolina Challenge, the second home meet of the 2021 indoor season, with six Power 5 teams visiting Columbia for the high-quality meet that ended up breaking 10 facility records. 

The Gamecocks saw four individuals either move up or improve their all-time program top-10 marks during the meet. Heather Stone’s 9:51.88 performance in the 3000m moved her the No. 6 on the list, breaking her previous indoor PR by about four seconds. Freshman Christian Lewis improved his PR by nearly six inches during the men’s long jump to finish in third, pushing his sixth-best leap in school history slightly up the all-time top-list. KD Young’s mark of 17.79m in the weight throw cemented her spot at No. 10 on the Gamecocks’ indoor list while Destinee Rocker’s second-place 60m hurdles time of 8.19 separated herself from teammate Caitlyn Little at the No. 6 spot in school history. 

Carolina’s women’s 400m squad proved why it is still one of the deepest groups in the country with a 4x400m relay time of 3:36.19, winning the event over the likes of Florida, Mississippi State, Alabama and Auburn. Led off by returning All-American Knowledge Omovoh, the freshman group of Alysia Johnson, Rachel Glenn and Ashton Lindley combined to post the ninth-fastest time, at the time, in the country.  

GAMECOCK OPENER JAN. 16

The Gamecocks kicked off the 2021 campaign with an impressive outing at the Gamecock Opener. Carolina posted six different All-Time Top 10 program marks during the meet, with three of those performances coming among the jumps events.

“I am so proud of all of our jumpers today. We were all just so excited to be back in this building and competing today,” Assistant Head Coach Delethea Quarles said. “The things that stood out was [Jackson Marseille]’s performance in the high jump today, jumping over seven feet and then Rachel Glenn coming out and jumped just under six feet. They just did a phenomenal job today. All of our jumpers did a great job to execute today and were coachable and made adjustments that were needed to perform at a high level today.”

The Gamecocks also saw top-10 program performances from Destinee Rocker in the 60m hurdles (8.21), Alycia Springs in the Shot Put (16.01m) and KD Young in the Weight Throw (17.70m). 

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