May 13, 2005

Nashville, Tenn. – South Carolina sophomore thrower Tyler Trout put the first points on the board for the Gamecocks at the Southeastern Conference Outdoor Championship in Nashville, Tenn.

Trout threw a personal best of 173’3 in the hammer throw on Friday morning, scoring with an eighth place finish. The hammer throw kicked-off competition at the championship on Friday and Trout, along with Jacob Minskey, Anthony Faulkner, and Jason Cook were the first Gamecocks to compete for the men’s team.

“We are very proud of Tyler and his performance in the hammer,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “He came out here ready to compete and he did just that, throwing a personal best and scoring the first points for the Gamecocks. It was a great effort by Tyler with great results.”

Minskey finished the event in 12th place with a throw of 162’9, while Cook finished 16th with a distance of 123’2. Faulkner did not get a mark. For the women’s team, sophomore Precious Akins threw 162’8 for 18th place in the hammer.

In other action, heptathletes Reanna Townsend and Chelsea Kaczmarek finished 13th and 14th in the heptathlon with 4546 and 4437 points, respectively. Townsend, who was in seventh place after three events on Friday, returned today to jump 5.47m in the long jump, throw 84’3 in the javelin and run 2:48.87 in the 800m run. Kaczmarek jumped 5.25m in the long jump, threw 103’1 in the javelin and ran 2:23.00 in the 800m.

On the track, in the men’s 200m preliminaries, senior All-American Rodney Martin advanced to Sunday’s final with a time of 20.75. The women’s sprinters dominated the 200m preliminaries for the Gamecocks with four athletes advancing to the finals. The top qualifier was freshman All-American Shalonda Solomon with a time of 22.89. Senior All-American Erica Whipple had the fifth qualifying time of 23.41, while senior All-American Khalilah Carpenter was the sixth qualifier with 23.87, followed by sophomore All-American Stephanie Smith at 23.63.

Gamecock juniors William Emase and Shay Shelton won their heats in the 800m run to advance to the finals on Sunday. Emase ran 1:50.00, the fourth fastest time of the day for the men, while Shelton ran the third fastest and a personal best of 2:07.14.

In hurdle action, the Gamecock women dominated the 400m hurdles once again, claiming the top three qualifying spots. Junior All-American Tiffany Ross-Williams was the top qualifier with a time of 55.84. With the second fastest time of the day was senior All-American Shevon Stoddart at 56.92, while junior All-American Tawana Watkins finished as the third qualifier with a time of 57.33. For the men, freshman All-American Jason Richardson ran a season best of 51.06 in the 400m hurdles to finish as the fifth qualifier for Sunday’s final.

SEC championship action will kick-off again on Saturday starting with the women’s long jump and the men’s discus at 1 p.m. Running events will begin at 7 p.m. with the men’s 1500m trials. Results will be available following the meet at www.uscsports.com.