March 1, 2003
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – South Carolina athletes posted strong showings as the Gamecocks sit in second place on the women’s side and are in a tie for third place on the men’s side after day two of the SEC Indoor Championships at the University of Florida. The women have 34 points and are only one point behind the current leader Arkansas. Georgia is tied for third with Florida with 25 points. The men have 27.50 points, tied with Auburn and trail first-place Arkansas (38 points) and LSU (28 points).
“Our teams are in good position heading into the final day of competition,” said head coach Curtis Frye. “Our men had a particularly strong day because we did not lose any of the favorites. The 16 points we gained in the pole vault was huge”
Three Gamecocks finished among the top six in the men’s pole vault. Chris Steddum was the runner-up in the event with a vault of 17’06.50. Greg Royster tied for fourth with a season-best mark of 16’08.75 and Jared Farabee placed sixth with a top season mark of 16’08.75.
Tony Allmond set a season-best and NCAA provisional mark of 25’5.50 in the long jump preliminaries before finishing third in the finals.
“On the women’s side, we had a lot of qualifiers and got all of the favorites to the finals,” said Frye. “We were excellent in the long jump and the shot put and gained some extra points in those events. Overall we are in good position to compete with the other teams at the top, but everyone is still in the hunt.”
The Garnet and Black recorded a 5-6-7 finish in the women’s long jump, as Kemesha Whitmire led the way with a NCAA provisional mark of 20’5.75. Antoinette Wilks followed with a mark of 20’1 with Chelsea Hammond rounding out the trio recording a mark of 19’9.75.
In the women’s shot put, Nicole Kendrick was the runner up with a provisional mark of 53’5. Team co-captain India Odum finished sixth with a provisional mark of 50’9.5.
Corey Taylor ran a 7.24, an NCAA provisional mark, and Kenneth Ferguson posted a 7.40 in the men’s 55 meter hurdles to advance to Sunday’s final.
Lashinda Demus and Shevon Stoddart ran NCAA provisional times of 7.87 and 7.90 in the women’s 55 meter hurdles to advance to Sunday’s final where they will be joined by teammate Tiffany Ross who qualified with a time of 7.91. Stoddart’s time was her season-best.
Martin Jackson advanced to the finals of the 200m dash, posting a provisional time of 21.48 in the preliminary round.
In the women’s 200m dash, Erica Whipple was one of four Carolina athletes to advance to the final round as she ran an automatic qualifying time of 23.63. Aleen Bailey also advanced, finishing with a provisional time of 23.75. Rounding out the group was Miki Barber (24.04) and Demetria Washington (24.04), both recording provisional times.
Demus paced the field in the 400 meter dash preliminaries with an NCAA provisional time of 53.88. She will be joined by three Carolina teammates in Sunday’s final as Demetria Washington and Stoddart advanced with provisional times of 53.92 and 54.42 and Tiffany Ross qualified with a time of 55.01 to round out the USC quartet.
The trio of Jonathan Fortenberry, Ferguson and Otis Harris advanced to the men’s 400 meter dash final. Fortenberry (46.88) and Ferguson (47.41) established provisional marks in their preliminary races.
Aleen Bailey and Miki Barber advanced Sunday’s final in the 55 meter dash with times of 6.88 and 6.89, both NCAA provisional marks. Alexis Joyce (6.96) and Khalilah Carpenter (7.06) both posted season-best times but did not advance.
Otukile Lekote advanced to Sunday’s 800 meter final with a preliminary time of 1:51.10. Lekote is looking to keep his streak alive, having yet to lose an 800m race this year.
The following USC athletes will compete in individual event finals on Sunday: Martin Jackson (200m dash), Otukile Lekote (800m run), Jonathan Fortenberry (400m dash), Otis Harris (400m dash), Kenneth Ferguson (55m hurdles, 400m dash) and Corey Taylor (55m hurdles) for the men; Lashinda Demus (55m hurdles, 400m dash), Demetria Washington (200m dash, 400m dash), Shevon Stoddart (55m hurdles, 400m dash), Miki Barber (55m dash, 200m dash), Tiffany Ross (55m hurdles, 400m dash), Aleen Bailey (55m dash, 200m dash), and Erica Whipple (200m dash) for the women.
Sunday concludes competition at the SEC Indoor Championships with field events beginning at 10 a.m. ET and running events slated to start at 1 p.m. A link to live results can be found on www.uscsports.com.
