Feb. 27, 2005
Fayetteville, Ark. – South Carolina women’s track and field wrapped up the SEC Indoor Championship with 70.50 points, earning fifth place in the two-day event at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville on Sunday. The University of Tennessee won the title with 135.50 points, followed by Arkansas (120), LSU (75.50), Florida (74.50), USC (70.50), Georgia (54), Auburn (46), Alabama (36), Vanderbilt (19), Kentucky (14), Ole Miss (10) and Mississippi State (8).
In the final and hottest event of the day, the Gamecocks led the 4x400m relay until the final stretch of the last leg when nine-time All-American Tiffany Ross-Williams and 2005 collegiate leader in the 200m (23.02) and 400m (51.13), LSU’s Hazel Ann-Regis, ran neck-in-neck for the win. LSU came up with the title, running 3:29.06. However, Gamecocks Natasha Hastings, All-American Shevon Stoddart, All-American Stephanie Smith and Ross-Williams finished second with a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 3:30.07, the second fastest indoor time in school history.
The first scorer of the day for the Gamecocks was Ross-Williams, who finished fourth in the women’s 60m hurdles with a time of 8.29, a season best and the fifth fastest time in school history. Beau Walker, of Alabama, won the event with a time of 8.16.
Freshman Amberly Nesbitt was the only Gamecock to advance to the 60m finals after running a personal best and second fastest of the day on Saturday with a 7.31. She finished eighth in Sunday’s final, scoring at her first SEC Championship with a time of 7.43.
In the women’s 400m, of which the Gamecocks advanced four athletes, Hastings, Ross-Williams, Smith and Stoddart, USC dominated the event, finishing second, third, fourth and fifth. While Florida’s Tiandra Ponteen ran an impressive 51.47 to claim the title, the Gamecocks lit the track with three season best times. Leading the Gamecocks was Hastings, who finished second with a time of 52.27. Finishing third was Ross-Williams, with a season best time of 52.43. Stoddart finished fourth with a personal best of 52.74, while sophomore Smith finished fifth with a season best of 52.87. Hastings’ time automatically qualified for NCAAs, while each of the other times provisionally qualified.
In another unbelievable run by the Gamecocks, South Carolina placed fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth in the women’s 200m. Running in the second heat against the 2005 collegiate leader Regis, senior All-American Erica Whipple finished fourth in the event with a time of 23.24, a NCAA automatic qualifying time and season best. Senior All-American Khalilah Carpenter also ran a NCAA automatic qualifying time of 23.29 for sixth place and her season best. Freshmen Shalonda Solomon and Hastings finished in seventh and eighth places, with provisional qualifying times of 23.54 and 23.58, respectively.
Jenny Lake, who finished fourth with a personal best and school record-breaking performance in the 3,000m on Saturday, ran an impressive anchor leg of the distance medley relay to lead the Gamecocks to a second place finish with a time of 11:42.73, the second fastest time in school history. The DMR also consisted of exceptional performances by Rebecca Chain, Chiquita Martin and Tawana Watkins.
However, Gamecock success was not limited to the track. In the field, junior Monica Bozenski had the best high jump performance of her career with a personal best of 5’8 ¼ in the high jump to claim third place for the Gamecocks. Junior Kemesha Whitmire finished seventh in the triple jump with a leap of 40’2 ¾.
Results of the SEC Indoor Championship will be available at www.uscsports.com. For more information on the SEC or the Indoor Championship, go to www.secsports.com.
