Jan. 16, 2003

COLUMBIA, S.C. –
In only the second meet of this infant 2003 season, the South Carolina track and field team is quickly diving into the national competition circuit as they will compete at the Virginia Tech Invitational this weekend in Blacksburg, Va.

The Gamecocks will be competing against six other nationally-ranked teams, including the third-ranked Tennessee men’s team and the sixth-ranked North Carolina women’s team. In all, 15 men’s teams and 18 women’s teams highlight the field for this weekend’s competition.

In addition to the tough team competition, South Carolina will face even tougher individual competition as they will challenge 11 men’s and 19 women’s athletes ranked in the preseason “Dandy Dozen.” Tennessee’s men alone has six athletes on the Dandy Dozen while North Carolina’s women has five and Tennessee’s women has four in the rankings. South Carolina has 12 male and female athletes in the Dandy Dozen in 12 different events with many athletes ranked in more than one event. The Gamecock men’s team is ranked fourth in the nation while the women are ranked second.

The competition will begin Friday, January 17th in Blacksburg at 11:00 a.m. with several pentathlon events and will run though Saturday evening.