April 23, 2004
Posting its second win in two days in an individual event, USC also put four relays into Penn Relays’ Championship of America relay finals tomorrow. USC also saw two other athletes medal in individual events. Saturday is the final day of what is considered the top relay carnival in the world – with 50,000 expected on hand at Franklin Field on Saturday.
The meet will be televised on Saturday on NBC from 4:30 – 6 pm.
“This was a very good day. A number of athletes ran very well on the relays and stayed healthy,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “Alexis Joyce grew up a lot today and ran a great lead-off leg on the 4×1. Having Brook Antonio as a champion is a another plus because that mark would put him in the NCAA Championship. Aaron Luster also had a great day. I am really excited – we had a great day.”
Brook Antonio won the men’s discus with a personal best 176′ 6 – an NCAA regional qualifier. “It felt good,” said Antonio.
Tony Allmond finished as the runner-up in the long jump – hitting the board at 25′ 5 1/2. Also medaling was triple jumper Rhashida Abdul-Malik who jumped a season-best 40′ 9 3/4. Both are NCAA regional qualifying marks.
“Tony is working to get back to championship form,” said USC assistant coach Dee Quarles after Allmond finished as the runner-up at this year’s NCAA Indoor Championships.
In relays, USC’s women were the runner-up in the Championship of America 4x100m relay, as winner LSU had to set a Penn Relays record to hold off the Gamecocks, who ran a season-best 43.58 (eighth best time in school history). The team included Alexis Joyce, Lashinda Demus, Khalilah Carpenter and Erica Whipple.
USC’s men’s and women’s 4x200m relays both qualified for tomorrow’s Championship of America finals. The women won their heat with a time of 1:33.22 – the second best time of the day. The men were second in their heat and qualified with the sixth best time of 1:23.54.
Lashinda Demus made the finals of the Championship of America 100m hurdles, finishing in 13.37.
The men’s 4x400m relay qualified for tomorrow’s college final with a time of 3:10.45 – finishing third in its heat. The women qualified yesterday for Saturday’s Championship of America finals in the 4x400m relay.
Other Gamecocks competing today included: Greg Royster finishing sixth in the pole vault at 15′ 1 and Precious Akins was eighth in the discus at 154′ 10.
