May 11, 2018

Outdoor Meet #9 — 2018 SEC Outdoor Championships Day #1

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Two Gamecocks punched their tickets to SEC Outdoor Championships finals as the University of South Carolina track & field team began the 2018 edition of the conference meet Friday at Tom Black Track. Otis Jones and Ncincilili Titi each advanced out of prelims and will compete for SEC titles on Sunday.

Jones and Titi were the top performers on the opening day of the conference championships, which featured an abbreviated schedule. Carolina did not record any official points Friday as only three men’s events and two women’s events were completed.

Ole Miss and Missouri share the women’s team lead with 15 points apiece after one day. Alabama paces the men’s field with 30 points.

Jones made his first career SEC final in February at the league’s indoor championships, and he repeated the feat on Friday. The junior’s 800m time of 1:49.87 was second in his heat and was the fastest mark of the day among non-automatic qualifiers. He’ll go for a conference title Sunday night at 7:50 p.m. ET.

Titi was the fastest 200m qualifier on Friday, and he set a new personal milestone in the process. The senior clocked in at 20.22 to punch a ticket to the final, and his time was his best ever at the SEC Championships. The Butterworth, South Africa, native will attempt to win his first career SEC title Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET.

Jordan Fields opened the heptathlon competition on Friday, and she sits in ninth place after four events, with 3,021 points. The redshirt freshman’s top event was the high jump, where her mark of 5-6 was fourth-best in the field and good for 830 points.

Carolina competed in just one field event Friday, with KD Young finishing 11th and Amanda Murphy taking 12th in the women’s hammer throw. On the track, Rivaldo Leacock was the top Gamecock to not advance to finals, as he finished 12th in the men’s 400m hurdles.

FROM THE COACH