Feb. 21, 2004
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina totaled 11 victories in its final tune-up ahead of next weekend’s SEC Championships. Also eclipsed during the day were both the women’s and men’s 55m hurdles facility records.
Lashinda Demus led a top-four Gamecock sweep of the women’s 55m hurdles, pacing the field with an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 7.65, setting a new USC Indoor Facility record in the process. Freshman Ronnetta Alexander finished second, just one-hundredth of a second off Demus’ pace with a provisional time of 7.66. Chiquita Martin (8.18) and Chelsea Hammond (8.26) placed third and fourth for USC.
Also setting a USC Indoor Facility record was Fred Townsend, who won the men’s 55m hurdles with an NCAA provisional time of 7.39. Teammate Taqiy Muhammad placed third in the event with a time of 7.50.
Khalilah Carpenter ran a season-best and NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.93 to capture the 55m dash while teammates Alexis Joyce (6.95) and Kemesha Whitmire (7.20) placed second and fourth.
Troy Williamson notched a victory in the 55m dash with a time of 6.32 while Rodney Martin (6.35) and Adrian Durant (6.36) placed third and fourth in the event.
Hammond went on to a victory in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.75m while teammate Reanna Townsend finished in a tie for third at 1.60m.
USC women placed 1-2 in the mile run as Nicki Breves ran a winning time of 5:44.87 and Ashley Cruse finished second with a time of 5:53.58. Chelsea Kaczmarek won the women’s 800m race with a time of 2:27.69.
Cheryl Terrio led a 2-3-5 USC finish in the pole vault, clearing 3.65m while Rachel Farabee posted a mark of 3.35m and Marisa Garcia-Quintana cleared 2.90m.
India Odum finished second in the shot put with a distance of 14.97m, trailing only former Gamecock Dawn Ellerbe, who won the event with a mark of 15.39m. Ellerbe and Odum also finished 1-2 in the weight throw with marks of 22.48m and 17.31m.
Mary Wright won the women’s 3000m with a time of 11:15.46 and teammate Sally Irvin finished second with a time of 11:32.46. Ricky Johnson and Matt Schreiber finished first and second for USC in the men’s 3000m, led by Johnson’s time of 9:33.49.
Evan Slack finished first in the men’s mile run with a time of 4:52.90 and fourth in the 800m with a time of 2:12.16.
Townsend also went on to capture the pole vault competition with a height of 4.27m. Freshman Dan McKenzie finished third by clearing 3.96m.
The Gamecocks claimed three top-five finishes in both the men’s shot put and men’s weight throw. Adam Bishop reached a mark of 16.87m in the shot put for second while Tony Antonio placed fourth and Jacob Minskey fifth. In the weight throw, Antonio led the way for Carolina with a second-place finish mark of 19.05m while Bishop and Minskey placed third and fourth.
