April 27, 2017

PHILADELPHIA, PA. – The South Carolina track and field team began its weekend at the 123rd Penn Relays on Thursday. Day one of the meet belonged to the women’s events, and the Gamecocks brought home an individual title and sent a relay team on to Friday with a chance at winning a prestigious Wagon Wheel.

Rougui Sow picked up her third win of the outdoor season after hitting 6.31 meters (20-8.5) in the long jump championship competition. Sow hit her best mark on her sixth and final attempt, moving up from third to take the win. She is the first field event winner for the team at Penn since Jeannelle Scheper and Shelby Freedman won on the opening day of the 2015 relays.

Also in the field events, freshman Alycia Springs placed seventh in the shot put.

On the track, the women picked up a pair of top-10 finishers to start the meet. Tyler Brockington and Kara Lyles ran in the 400m hurdles championship, and Brockington made the podium with a third-place results thanks to a time of 57.54. Lyles continued to develop her skills in the event, posting her second-straight race under 59 seconds (at 58.97) just a week removed from hitting her PR at the USC Open.

The women also had a pair of relay teams competing in the qualifying stage Thursday. The 4x100m team of Sow, Brockington, Taranisha Taylor and Maiya Dendy claimed the ninth and final qualifying spot after running a time of 45.23. The group will run in the Championship of America tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET. The 4x400m team (Precious Holmes, Brockington, Aalayah Sanders, and Lyles) finished 13th overall out of 71 teams thanks to a time of 3:42.58, but did not crack the qualifying group for the Championship of America race. The team qualifies for the collegiate final at 5:35 p.m. Saturday.

Closing the first day was the women’s 5,000m, with three Gamecocks running. Freshman Anna Kathryn Stoddard ran the team’s top time, setting a new PR after crossing in 17:27.24. Her time now qualifies her for the USATF Junior National meet this summer. Mary Reiser was close behind with a time of 17:33.14.

UP NEXT

The full squad will be on display tomorrow, as the men join the fold. In the field events, the men will compete in the shot put, pole vault and long jump. On the track, there will be prelims in the 4×1, 4×2 and 4×4 relays, finals in the sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relays, and individual track events in the 110m and 400m hurdles. The women have finals in the 4×100, sprint medley and shuttle hurdle relays, prelims for the 4×2, and prelims for the 100m hurdles. In the field events, Gamecock women will compete in the triple jump and javelin throw.