March 12, 2003

NCAA Indoor Championship Notes in PDF Format
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Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina travels to Fayetteville, Ark., home of the 2003 SEC Men’s and Women’s Indoor Champion Arkansas Razorbacks, for the NCAA Indoor Championships. Competition at the Randal Tyson Track Center on Friday, March 14, and continues through Saturday, March 15. The facility first hosted the NCAA Indoor Championships in 2000 and is scheduled to serve as host for the event through 2005.

USC is sending 15 athletes (eight women and seven men) to compete in 13 events. The men’s team is currently ranked No. 3 in this week’s Trackwire Online poll while the women’s team is No. 7.

“We need to perform like we did to get to the championships and to finish ahead of where we stand going in,” said head coach Curtis Frye. “On the women’s side, we need to excel in the 200 and 400 to have a great meet and finish in the top five. LSU is the favorite and we are in a group with Texas, Florida, North Carolina and Stanford. On the men’s side, we have to have a great meet if we have a shot at winning. We expect to finish among the top five. Arkansas will be favored and Texas, LSU, Florida and us will be fighting for the top five. It could be an all-SEC top four finish.”

The USC women placed second and the men third at the SEC Indoor Championships in Gainesville, Fla., each achieving their best indoor conference finish since 1999 when both teams were the runner-up.

Carolina’s 4×400 relay teams swept SEC titles as the women’s quartet of Tiffany Ross, Miki Barber, Demetria Washington and anchor Lashinda Demus ran an automatic qualifying time of 3:32.90. The men’s team of Kenneth Ferguson, Otukile Lekote, Otis Harris and Jonathan Fortenberry ran an automatic time of 3:07.09. On the anchor, Fortenberry made a late charge down the final stretch to help lead his quartet to victory.

South Carolina’s women’s team placed fourth at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships. The 4×400 relay team of Tacita Bass, Shevon Stoddart, Lashinda Demus and Demetria Washington was crowned NCAA Champions. Eight USC women earned All-America honors including: Aleen Bailey (60m, 200m), Bass (4×400 relay team), Demus (400m, 4×400 relay team), Tiffany Ross (60m hurdles), Stoddart (400, 4×400 relay team), Washington (400, 4×400 relay team), Erica Whipple (200m) and Antoinette Wilks (long jump).

The USC men’s team finished sixth at last year’s NCAA Indoor Championships. Seven Gamecocks earned All-America honors including: Jonathan Fortenberry (4×400 relay team), Otis Harris (4×400 relay team), Otukile Lekote (800m, 4×400 relay team), Gerald Pressley (4×400 relay team), Chris Steddum (pole vault), Corey Taylor (60m hurdles) and Andre Totton (200m).

South Carolina’s highest women’s NCAA Indoors team finish was second in both 2000 and 2001 while the men’s highest placing was fourth in 1999.

Below are links to websites with information for this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Meet:

For live results: www.ladybacks.com/championship/2002ncaaindoor.html

For the complete event schedule: www.ladybacks.com/championship/ncaatrackschedule.html