Jan. 11, 2003

Fairfax, Va. – The South Carolina men’s and women’s track teams combined for 13 first-place finishes at the Father Diamond Open held at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. on Saturday. The women garnered nine victories, including the 4X400m relay (3:43.43), while the men nabbed four. The best USC finish of the meet was the 1-2-3 sweep by Lashinda Demus, Tiffany Ross and Tawana Watkins in the 400-meter dash.

Demus claimed the first-place finish with a time of 55.01 while Ross clocked 55.48 and Watkins ran 55.72. Shavon Stoddart came in sixth with a time of 56.72 to round out Carolina’s lineup for that event.

On a roll, the women won four of the first five running events. Aleen Bailey claimed the top spot in both the 60-meter dash (7.43) and the 200-meter dash (24.06). Khalilah Carpenter finished second in the 60m with 6.54 and sixth in the 200m. Demetria Washington grabbed the 500-meter title with a time of 1:11.34, beating out the second-place finisher by two seconds.

In the field events, Lori Tvarkunas won the pole vault (3.43m), Antoinette Wilks claimed the triple jump (12.22m) and India Odum won the weight throw (15.38m) competition. Nicole Kendrick (15.31m) and Odum (14.04m) finished 1-2 in the shot put as well.

On the men’s side, Jonathan Fortenberry ran 47.87 to win the 400m and Thomas Lewis came in third with a time of 48.81. Otukile Lekote won the 800m with a time of 1:53.57. Otis Harris finished second in the 500m (1:03.31), while Corey Taylor (7.87) and Charles Ryan (7.89) finished third and fourth in the 60m hurdles. The men’s 4X400 relay finished third with a time of 3:13.73 and the 4X800 relay came in second with a time of 8:03.68.

Rounding out top finishes for the Gamecock men were Fred Townsend , who won the high jump (2.08m) and Adam Bishop, who won the shot put (17.15m) event.

The Gamecocks return to action next weekend when they travel to the Virginia Tech Invitational in Blacksburg, Va., Feb. 17-18.