Feb. 18, 2006
Sophomore sensation Shalonda Solomon improved her national standing in the short sprint by winning the 55-meter dash, highlighting the South Carolina’s efforts at the Gamecock Indoor Open, held today at the Carolina indoor facility.
Solomon, a sophomore from Inglewood, Calif. and the two-time defending Southeastern Conference Athlete of the Week recipient, sprinted to a winning time and NCAA automatic qualifying mark of 6.73 seconds in the 55-meter finals after logging a 6.87 in the prelims and a 6.83 in the semi-finals. Her previous best mark for 55-meters this season was 6.84 seconds, which ranked 14th in the nation.
“It was a great day,” said USC head coach Curtis Frye. “We came out of the meet healthy and we had some excellent performances heading into the SEC meet next weekend. Shalonda Solomon put up a better time on the list. KeKe Clarke had a good provisional mark in the hurdles. Ronetta Alexander also ran well in the hurdles and is closer to an automatic mark. The distance kids had great runs as well,” continued Frye. “In the field events, we got a win from Monica Bozenski in the high jump, got 13 feet from Cheryl Terrio in the pole vault and 12 feet from the freshman, Vica Shobe, in the vault. Trey Bell also went 16 feet in the men’s pole vault competition.”
The USC women dominated the 55-meter hurdle competition, taking the top four spots. Ronetta Alexander led the way with a 7.62 clocking in the finals, just off an NCAA automatic mark. Keke Clarke (7.80) was second with an NCAA provisional time, followed by Trier Young (8.08) and Chiquita Martin (8.12).
Cheryl Terrio continued to impress in the pole vault, clearing 4.00 meters a week after setting the school record with a jump of 4.12 meters. Vica Shobe (3.66m), Emily Pease (3.51m ) and Liza Todd (3.36m) gave USC a sweep of the top four slots.
The Gamecocks also got wins from Sharee Howze in the 400-meter dash (1:01.14), Monica Bozenski in the high jump (1.67m), Precious Akins in the weight throw (18.07m) and the 4×400 meter relay squad (4:12.86).
On the men’s side, Adrian Durant was second in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.32 seconds, Trey Bell cleared 4.88 meters in the pole vault to finish third, Jim Mitchell posted a mark of 15.94 meters in the shot put to earn a second place finish and Brook Antonio was third in the weight throw with a best effort of 18.76 meters.
“We are happy to put on this meet,” said Frye. “It’s outstanding to have the local schools compete. There was a lot of talent here. All of the schools have individuals who can compete at a high level.”
The Gamecocks will travel to Gainesville, Fla. next weekend for the SEC Indoor Championships. They are just three weeks away from the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships, which are slated for March 10-11 in Fayetteville, Ark. The Gamecock women are ranked third in the nation in the latest Trackwire.com poll, while the men are tied for 19th in the nation.
