April 5, 2003
Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina recorded twenty first-place finishes, ten each by the men and women, as both squads finished second at the SEC Quad Meet at the Weems Baskin Track and Field. Florida won the women’s team competition while Tennessee’s men edged USC for first-place by one point The meet was held under varying weather conditions in Columbia, as nature alternated between cool and breezy conditions and rain showers before giving way to partly sunny skies.
Seniors Aleen Bailey , Miki Barber and Antoinette Wilks combined to win five events on the day. Bailey won both the 100m and 200m dash races, while Barber claimed a victory in the 400m. Wilks finished first in both the long and triple jump competitions.
Lashinda Demus captured a pair of hurdle titles with a winning time of 13.35 in the 100m hurdles and a time of 56.33 in the 400m hurdles.
Freshman Tawana Watkins won the 800m run with a time of 2:11.79 in her first appearance in the event during the outdoor season.
Otukile Lekote posted a time of 1:47.54 to win the 800m run, besting teammate William Emase, who placed second in the event. Emase went on to a victory in the 1500m run with a time of 3:50.06, his best of the outdoor season.
Kenneth Ferguson won both the 110m and 400m hurdles races. The freshman ran a time of 13.82 in the 110m H, just two-hundredths of a second off of his nation-leading time of 13.80, run at last weekend’s Florida Relays.
The men combined to win four field events as Chris Steddum won the pole vault competition (17’02.75), Tony Allmond captured the long jump title (25′ 06.00), Greig Cryer finished first in the triple jump (46′ 08.75) and Adam Bishop was best in the shot put (54′ 04.00).
In the relays, the USC women won both the 4×100 and 4×400 races while the men emerged with a victory in the 4×400. On the day, the Gamecocks totaled 35 top-five men’s finishes and 32 top-five women’s finishes.
Carolina resumes action on Wed., April 9, with the South Carolina State Championships at the Weems Baskin Track and Field in Columbia.
