COLUMBIA, S.C. – Both past and present University of South Carolina track and field program members will begin competition in the Pan American Games, as well as other major international competitions, over the next week.

2019 PAN AMERICAN GAMES

The 2019 Pan American Games have already begun, with the majority of the track and field events taking part from Aug. 6-10. Current Gamecock Aliyah Abrams (Guyana) will compete in the 400m while former Gamecocks Josh Awotunde (USA) takes on the shot put and Jeannelle Scheper (Saint Lucia) takes part in the high jump.

Abrams and Awotunde will get their Pan American Games journey started on Aug. 7, with Abrams competing at 2:20 p.m. in the 400m semifinals. Awotunde will compete in the shot put finals on Aug. 7 at 4:50 p.m.

Abrams is coming off her second-straight women’s 400m crown in the country of Guyana, capturing the national title back in early July with a time of 52.16. She has already qualified for the 2019 IAAF World Championships. She finished her 2019 collegiate season with an NCAA Championship in the Indoor 4x400m relay and a total of four First-Team All-America honors. 

Scheper, a former NCAA Champion in the high jump for the Gamecocks, returns to yet another big stage at the Pan American Stage. Scheper’s season-best mark is 1.84m she achieved on July 20, but will need to reach 1.94 to qualify for the IAAF World Championships by the Sept. 6, 2019, deadline. 
 
Since graduating from Carolina, Awotunde has performed well on the professional circuit. He finished fifth at last week’s USATF Outdoor Championships, and won the Rafer Johnson Invitational in Los Angeles with a throw of 21.13m (69-4) in April. This will be Awotunde’s first time representing the United States in international competition.

A full schedule of track and field at the Pan American Games can be found here.

The majority of the 2019 Pan American Games will be streamed on ESPNU and the ESPN family of networks. A full list and schedule of the events can be found here.

2019 INTERNATIONAL THROWING MEETING/EUROPEAN TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS

Rising senior Eric Favors will also have a pair of big competitions over the next week, in hopes of qualifying for the 2019 IAAF World Championships. Fresh off his 2019 Irish National Championship, Favors begins his week on Aug. 4 at the International Throwing Meeting in Leiria, Portugal, at 11 a.m. He will then travel to Sandnes, Norway, for the European Team Championships, where he will compete on Aug. 10 at 9:18 a.m. Favors needs to hit a mark of 20.70m to earn a spot at the IAAF World Championships.

The European Team Championships comprises one single competition where men’s and women’s teams represent as a single team. The winner of each individual event, and each relay, in the each match shall score as many points as there are teams competing in the respective League, the second will score one fewer, and so on.

For a full schedule of the International Throwing Meeting, click here, and for the European Team Championships, click here.

2019 MEMORIAL RASSCHAERT FLANDERS CUP

After finishing second at the 2019 Elite French Championships, Yann Randrianasolo will look to find that IAAF World Championships standard (8.17m) in the long jump. He will compete at the Memorial Rasschaert Flanders Cup on Sat., Aug. 3, in Ninove, Belgium.

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