March 10, 2007
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — South Carolina’s women’s track and field team won two national championships Saturday on the final day of the NCAA Indoor Championships at Randal Tyson Track Center in Fayetteville, Ark. The 20 points allowed the Gamecocks to post their eighth straight top-10 finish with 20 points, good for a tie for 10th place.
Natasha Hastings began the evening with an unforgettable performance in the finals of the 400-meter dash. She ran 50.80 to win the event by over a half-second and set collegiate, NCAA Indoor Championship and Tyson track records in the process. Hastings also became the second-fastest American in history for the event, eclipsed only by Diane Dixon’s and her 50.64 clocking set March 10, 1991. Her 50.80 time also is the fastest time ever by an American woman on her home country’s soil.
Winning the 400 made Hastings the third Gamecock in school history to claim the event indoors, joining Demetria Washington (2001) and Lashinda Demus (2003). Washington ran 52.37 when she won her first individual title and Demus crossed the tape in 51.79.
In the 4×400-meter relay, Stephanie Smith ran the lead leg for Carolina, followed by Krystal Cantey, Brandi Cross and Hastings as the anchor. The quartet posted a season-best time of 3:29.57 to edge Texas A&M’s 3:29.93 and claim South Carolina’s fourth title in the event during the past seven years. On the final leg, Hastings posted a split time of 50.67 to lead the Gamecocks to victory.
Smith her earned 10th career All-America certificate as a member of the relay and also snagged her second NCAA championship as a member of the 4x400m relay. Her first came as a sophomore in 2005. Hastings became a nine-time All-American, while Cantey and Cross each earned their first as true freshmen.
The final race of the evening saw the South Carolina men’s team post a third-place finish in the 4x400m with a time of 3:06.93. The Gamecocks, who entered the race with the seventh-fastest collegiate time in 2007, used Keith Hinnant as the lead runner, followed by Thomas Hilliard, IV, Ray Miley and Quentin Moore. It was the first All-America honor in the careers of Hinnant, Miley and Moore. Hilliard received his first a day before by finishing sixth in the 60-meter hurdles.
Coupled with Hilliard’s three points on the first day, the men’s squad totaled nine points at the championships to finish in a tie for 25th. It was Carolina’s best finish at the indoors since 2003 when it was 10th.
South Carolina opens the outdoor season next week went it competes at the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla., over March 15-17.
Men’s 4×400-Meter Relay (Finals)
3. Hinnant, Hilliard, Miley, Moore 3:06.93
Women’s 400-Meter Dash (Finals)
1. Natasha Hastings 50.80
Women’s 4×400-Meter Relay (Finals)
1. Smith, Cantey, Cross, Hastings 3:29.57
