Feb. 6, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Junior Natasha Hastings from the South Carolina track and field team earned SEC Runner of the Week honors, the league office announced Tuesday. Hastings is the second Gamecock woman in 2007 to receive the award, joining classmate Shalonda Solomon.

Hastings was named Most Outstanding Competitor at the New Balance Collegiate Invitational in New York City after leading South Carolina to a sixth-place finish. A native of New York, she dazzled the hometown crowd with a 52.12 time in the prelims of the 400-meter dash and then eclipsed that time a day later by running 51.70 to win the event.

To conclude the meet, Hastings anchored the 4×400-meter relay to a meet and Armory track-record time of 3:30.95. She ran 51.2 on the final leg to edge out LSU. South Carolina now has the No. 1-ranked mile relay team in the Trackwire Dandy Dozen and owns the fastest collegiate time in the nation this year.

Hastings is undefeated this year in the 400m and currently ranked No. 1 in the Dandy Dozen. Her 51.70 time was the fastest time by an American this year, was a personal record and the second-fastest time in Gamecock history. Hastings has two automatic NCAA times for the 400, and the 4×400 team’s 3:30.95 also was an automatic time.