Women's 4x2 Meet Record, Win Leads Start of Outdoor Season

March 21, 2014

CONWAY, S.C. – In a strong first full day of competition, the South Carolina track and field program collected two wins and pushed nine athletes to finals. The Gamecocks are opening their 2014 outdoor slate at the Shamrock Invitational at Coastal Carolina University this weekend.

The women’s 4×200-meter relay broke the Gamecocks’ own meet record by 1.5 seconds, clocking in at 1:34.52. Senior Vashti Bandy was on the South Carolina relay that set the meet record in 2012 and was joined by redshirt sophomore Ahtyana Johnson, freshman Precious Holmes and sophomore Tyler Brockington for the new meet record and win.

Junior pole vaulter Megan Wall tallied the second win of the day for South Carolina. Her clearance of 11′ 11 ¾” tied her with two other vaulters, but the Gamecock moved through the competition with a fewer misses to earn the win.

Redshirt freshman Kaleb Zuidema recorded his first throw in the Garnet and Black after a pair of seasons full of injuries. Zuidema immediately drew attention, posting the fourth-best javelin throw in school history at 219′ 8″ (66.95m). The mark placed him second overall and was the top collegiate throw of the competition.

In the women’s 5,000-meter race, senior Penny Boswell picked up a second-place finish, crossing the line in 18:00.87. Redshirt sophomore Chalese Davis also finished second with a mark of 18’10” (5.74m) in the long jump, while freshman Natasha Dicks took fourth in her first collegiate outdoor meet with a long jump mark of 18’5 ¼” (5.62m)

The Gamecocks also advanced two athletes to tomorrow’s finals in both the men’s and women’s 100-meter dash. Senior Chris Royster and sophomore Brandon Sanders posted qualifying mark. Royster ran a 10.57, the best time of the field, with Sanders at 11.02 to move on to tomorrow’s eight-man final.

Earlier in the day, Ahtyana Johnson began her outdoor season the same way she kicked off the indoor season, with a new lifetime best. Johnson turned in the second-fastest time in the field at 11.76 to move on to tomorrow’s race. Bandy took fourth in the prelims with a time of 11.92 for her ticket to the finals

The South Carolina women’s hurdlers posted a dominant 1-2-3 finish in the 100-meter hurdle prelims, advancing Chalese Davis, Tyler Brockington and freshman Mollie Williams. Davis ran a 13.99 and Brockington set a new PR at 14.02. The men pushed two into tomorrow’s 110-meter hurdle finals, with freshman Jussi Kanervo and Jermaine Collier ran 14.29 and 14.42, respectively.

Both the men’s and the women’s squad put themselves in solid position for the Mayor’s Cup which is awarded to the teams with the highest cumulative score of the meet’s four relays. Tomorrow the 4×100-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay round out the scored portion of the meet.

In addition to the women’s 4×200-meter relay win and the women also collected points with their second-place finish in the 4×800-meter relay. The team of sophomores Anna Todd, Ashley Miller Kaleigh Higgins and freshman Sarah Falta ran a time of 9:19.42. They women enter the final day of competition with 18 points.

The men posted second place finishes in the 4×200-meter relay (1:25.14) and the 4×800-meter relay (7:44.55) to start the meet with 16 points. .

Competition continues at the Shamrock Invitational tomorrow with field events at 9 a.m., and track at 10 a.m.