Feb. 24, 2017

Photo Gallery

NASHVILLE — Three Gamecocks posted scoring efforts on Friday as the University of South Carolina track & field team opened the 2017 SEC Indoor Championships. Rougui Sow, Alycia Springs and Tye Williams each tallied points at the first postseason event of 2017, and three more Gamecocks advanced out of prelims to compete for a conference title on Saturday.

Through one day of competition, the South Carolina women’s team is in eighth place, with seven points, while the men are tied for ninth at 2.5 points.

Arkansas leads the women’s standings with 48.5 points, and Georgia tops the men’s field with 30 points. The competition is far from over, with 12 women’s events and 13 men’s events still to come.

Williams officially put the first points of the weekend on the board for the Gamecocks by tying for sixth in the high jump. The junior cleared 6-10 ¼ to earn 2.5 points for Carolina. It is the second consecutive season he has placed in the top-eight at the SEC Indoor meet.

Springs made her SEC Championships debut on Friday and left quite a first impression. The freshman went over 50 feet for the first time in her career, placing sixth in the shot put to earn three Gamecock points. Her official mark was 50-5 ¼.

Sow saved her best performance of the night for her last jump. She matched a collegiate best of 20-11 ¼ on her sixth long jump attempt and nabbed four points with a fifth-place result. Her mark still ranks 10th in the nation so far this season, and she is the first Gamecock to score in the long jump at SEC Indoors since 2010.

Two Gamecocks punched their ticket to Saturday’s finals in the 60mH. On the women’s side, Taranisha Taylor grabbed the eighth and final spot with a run of 8.31. Isaiah Moore took the eighth seed for the men, with a mark of 7.88.

Briana Haith booked passage to Saturday’s 400m final. The senior ran a season-best time of 53.83 in the fifth heat and watched as her time held up through the next six flights. She will go for an individual SEC Indoor title for the third time tomorrow after finishing fifth in the 400m in 2015 and third last season.

Yann Randrianasolo set a new long jump collegiate best on his third attempt, a mark of 24-10 that ranks fifth in Gamecock program history. He placed ninth overall in the competition, just one spot outside of the points.

One of the highlights of the day for the Gamecocks came in the final event of the pentathlon, the 800m. Kara Lyles won the fifth and final event with a PR time of 2:15.65 and set a pentathlon personal best of 3,564 points, which ranks eighth in school history. Jordan Fields finished 72 points ahead of Lyles; she also set an 800m PR and just missed a new personal record in the overall event.

In the mile run, Anna Kathryn Stoddard made a dent in the Carolina record book. The freshman knocked over six seconds off her personal best with a time of 5:00.15. That mark is now 10th-best in Carolina history.

NOTABLE

Markus Leemet is in great position to score for the Gamecocks after four of seven events in the heptathlon. The senior is in sixth place after one day, with 3,094 points. He set a PR in both the long jump and the shot put on Friday.

QUOTING HEAD COACH Curtis Frye

UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS

The Gamecocks continue the SEC Indoor Championships Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. CT. Field events start at 11 a.m. CT, and track finals get rolling at 2 p.m. CT.

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