March 26, 2016

Complete Results

ATLANTA, GA. – The South Carolina track and field team ended its weekend at the Yellow Jacket Invitational Saturday on the campus of Georgia Tech. The Gamecocks won four individual events and two relay races on a packed day of events.

The meet began Friday night with just two events, the hammer throw and the 5000m. Clarence Gallop got the weekend started right with a new personal best in the hammer to finish third overall. The junior threw 212 feet, nine inches in his fourth attempt for his top mark of the night, adding seven inches to his previous best set last season. His throw keeps him firmly in fifth in school history, but it’s the best hammer mark by any Gamecock since Bert Sorin in 1999.

Carolina had a busy day two, but started things on the right foot with the women taking home the 4x100m relay. The quartet of Tyler Brockington, Briana Haith, Taranisha Taylor and Maiya Dendy ran 44.88 to win the race, followed by Gabby Gray, Alexis Murphy, Funlayo Oluwole and Makyla Stanley in third. The men went fourth and sixth with their two 4×1 teams.

The women closed out the meet with another relay win, this time in the mile relay. Marisa Bellamy, Aliyah Abrams, Erika Rucker and Briana Haith won with a time of 3:35.22, beating out Clemson and Notre Dame.

Aside from her win in the relays, Haith also picked up the women’s top individual finish of the day. The junior won the women’s 400, holding off Abrams at the tape for a winning time of 53.25 that was just four thousandths of a second off her personal best. Abrams held close the whole way, finishing in 53.29 in her first quarter mile race of the outdoor season.

The return of a pair of indoor All-Americans boosted the men’s performance in their second weekend of the season. David Winters opened up with a 10.46 time in the 100m dash to beat out a field of 32, and Ncincilili Titi ran second overall in the 200 with a time of 20.78 that puts him comfortably in the top 10 nationally based on times entering the weekend.

The hurdles would show off the depth of South Carolina on Saturday, as Jussi Kanervo won again in the 400m event and Isaiah Moore ran as the top collegian in the 110 race. For the women, Chalese Davis finished second overall in the 100 to lead four Gamecocks in the top 9 for the race.

In the field events, Natasha Dicks made her outdoor debut after earning bronze at indoor nationals. The junior picked up right where she left off, winning the triple jump (at 41′ 7 ¾”) and coming just shy of a new personal best in the long jump. Shelby Freedman finished third in the javelin with a top throw of 145 feet.

The men had four field athletes take top-five spots in their respective events. Along with Gallop in the hammer, Josh Awotunde took second in the shot put, Tye Williams went third in the high jump and Michael Wamer finished fourth in the triple jump.

UP NEXT

The Gamecocks will face their biggest test of the early season next weekend as they travel down for the Florida Relays. The three-day meet, hosted by the Gators, will start March 31 and runs through Saturday.

QUOTABLE: HEAD COACH Curtis Frye

Recapping the Weekend
“It’s still early in the season, finding out what pieces we’ll have to work with later but we have some people stepping up and performing well. Titi and Clarence’s performances were really solid for us, and Isaiah got going on the hurdles today with a good run. He had a good time and he looked good doing it, so we like how he’s progressing. Our women’s 400 runners had good runs, the weather wasn’t that nice this weekend so we made the best of it.

On the early season strategy for the relays
We’re trying to look for pieces, we don’t have one sensational athlete but we have a lot of depth. Our women’s 4×4 relay is getting pretty set, Erika stepped in today which gives us a lot of help. At this point in the season, we’re just trying to get as many bodies as we can ready to go.”