Philadelphia, Penn. – In front of a Penn Relays record crowd of almost 40,000 fans (39,943) on a gorgeous sunny afternoon, USC placed three relays in the Championship of America with its performance on Friday in the third day of the 112th Penn Relays. The Gamecock women finished third in another and overall the team placed three athletes in the three finals.

Coach Frye was impressed with his team’s performance on Friday and praised both sides. “This is the first meet in the championship season. Jason (Richardson) and Ronnetta (Alexander) both performed well in the hurdles to make the finals. I was also excited about Leroy Dixon making the finals of the 100m,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “These are the type of performances that the kids can look at as positive – very positive – and that will give us more confidence as the season moves on. Hopefully it shows people nationally and shows our team that we have some big time athletes. Maybe our women’s team isn’t No. 12 – maybe they have proven they should be in the top 10. And on the men’s side – with Jason’s performance and Leroy’s performance we might be better than 22nd as well. I’m happy. It’s a quiet confidence.”

The women’s 4x100m relay, the defending champion, finished behind Texas (43.00) and LSU (43.60) to win the bronze medal in the Championship of America with a season-best time of 43.63, improving its regional qualifying time. The stick was passed around by Natasha Hastings, Amberly Nesbitt, Faraign Giles and the NCAA’s top sprinter in Shalonda Solomon.

Leroy Dixon led the individual charge in the prelims of the 100m, becoming the first Gamecock male since Terrence Trammell in 2000, to make the finals of the 100m Championship of America final. Dixon won his heat at 10.45 to qualify for Saturday’s final with the third fastest time of the day.

USC’s men’s 4x400m relay finished third in its prelim, running against SEC-rival LSU, posting a season-best 3:07.20 to make Saturday’s Championship of America final. The relay included Jamil James, Jason Richardson, Thomas Hillard and Keith Hinnant. The time also betters USC’s NCAA regional time.

USC’s women, who have already qualified for the Championship of America in the 4x400m relay (on Thurs.), hit 1:34.06 in the 4x200m relay, winning its prelim to qualify for the finals with the No. 3 seed. The relay consisted of Hastings, Solomon, Giles and Nesbitt.

Ronnetta Alexander won her heat in the 100m hurdles with the fastest time of the day (13.24) to advance to Saturday’s final. Chiquita Martin (13.92) was fourth in her heat and Kettiany Clarke (14.31) was sixth in her heat; and neither advanced to the finals. Martin finished 14th overall and Clarke was 22nd.

On the men’s side, Richardson won his heat with the second-fastest time of the day at 13.70 to make Saturday’s final. Hilliard was sixth in his heat at 14.54 and did not advance, finishing 20th.

The women’s Sprint Medley Relay ran a time of 3:49.86 to finish fifth. The relay included Martin, Nikeshia Brown, Stephanie Smith (53.8) and Shay Shelton (2:06 – second fastest spilt). The men’s SMR finished 10th at 3:25.31 behind the legs of Lytle, James, Jon Fortenberry and Johnny Baez, finishing third in its heat.

Richardson finished fifth in the 400m hurdles Championship and improved his NCAA regional time, crossing the finish line at 51.15, finishing sixth overall. Teammates Thomas Hillard (53.69) was ninth in the same heat, finishing 39th overall. Jussi Heikkila (52.77) was fifth in his heat and finished 24th overall. All three have NCAA regional marks, but only Richardson improved his in the competition.

The men’s 4x100m relay finished third in their heat at 41.42 to finish 23rd overall. The relay included James, Dixon, Nick Lytle and Greig Cryer.

In other finals Precious Akins threw 51.20m to finish fifth in the discus; Greg Royster did not make the opening height in the pole vault; Kemesha Whitmire jumped 11.91m in the triple jump to finish 13th; Jim Mitchell (16.31m) and Jason Cook (15.96m) were sixth and eighth, respectively in the shot put; and Greig Cryer was third in the long jump finals at 7.47m.