Feb. 9, 2003
In a precursor to the SEC Indoor Championships (and at the same venue), the South Carolina Gamecocks track and field teams were well represented at the Gator Invitational at the Stephen O’ Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla. Sunday. The Garnet and Black had four athletes win their events and had 18 qualify for the NCAA Indoor Championships.
Demetria Washington was the runner up in the 400m dash and automatically qualified for the NCAA Championships as she ran an automatic time of 53.63. Lashinda Demus finished sixth in the race with a provisional qualifying time of 54.09. Demus also provisionally qualified in the 55m hurdles as she had a time of 7.84, finishing fifth.
Aleen Bailey provisionally qualified as she finished second in the 200m dash with a time of 23.75. Finishing right behind Bailey was Erica Whipple, who ran a provisional 23.86. Whipple also finished sixth in the 55m dash finals with a time of 6.96.
On the men’s side, Jonathan Fortenberry won the 400m dash with an automatic qualifying time of 46.62. Corey Taylor won the 55m hurdles with a provisional time of 7.16 while Kenneth Ferguson finished second with a provisional mark of J7.16.
Chris Steddum also recorded a win, taking the pole vault with a provisional mark of 17′ 9.25. South Carolina’s 4x400m relay team once again proved it was top notch, winning the race with a provisional time of 3:09.17.
Next weekend, the Gamecocks are in split squads once again, sending one group to Blacksburg, Va. for the Virginia Tech Open and to New York City for the coveted Meet of Champions.
