April 28, 2007
Philadelphia, Penn. – When asked what it means to win at Penn Relays, Gamecock sophomore Faraign Giles summed it all up for the fans when she said “it means you are one of the best.” And after this weekend, South Carolina certainly has to be considered one of the best.
In front of more than 49,000 fans Saturday at Franklin Field, South Carolina added two more relay titles at the 113th annual Penn Relays to push its grand total to three Championship of America relay wins and one Championship of America individual win in the men’s 400m hurdles in Jussi Heikkila for the weekend. USC won the 4x400m relay and the 4x200m relay Championship of America events in addition to the Shuttle Hurdle Relay title yesterday. The women are currently ranked No. 3 in the country.
“This was a fantastic day for South Carolina,” said USC Head Coach Curtis Frye. “I am really thrilled and couldn’t ask for more. We leave the meet healthy, happy and with four Championship of America titles. That’s a really great weekend. Erik Heymann picked up a regional qualifier in the javelin and that is big for our men’s team. It was a really great weekend all around and hopefully this is something to build on for both our teams.”
USC wowed the crowd with a season-best time of 3:29.78 to top LSU and Texas A&M in the Championship of America 4x400m relay. The Gamecock women’s 4×4 has won 12 of 13 races its entered this year, including the NCAA indoor title. The relay was made up of Krystal Cantey, Shalonda Solomon, Brandi Cross and Natasha Hastings – who ran a 50.3 split to win the relay.
“The fans are great here at Penn Relays. This is my seventh time here and I love it,” said Hastings.
In front of a nationally-televised audience on ESPN2 earlier in the day South Carolina ran the 10th fastest time ever by a collegiate 4x200m relay to squeak out the title over LSU – running a 1:31.56 to LSU’s 1:31.58. USC has won the event the last two of three years; and was led by Chiquita Martin, Hastings, Faraign Giles and anchor leg Solomon who took the stick in third place to finish first at the tape. The time was the third-fastest time in school history.
“I just said ‘God, I gotta go’ and I passed them at the line,” said Solomon.
Erik Heymann finished as the runner-up in the men’s javelin with a toss of 212′ 1 to qualify for the NCAA regional for the first time in his career.
The USC men finished third in the Championship of America 4x400m relay with a time of 3:09.01. USC was led by Jamil James, Keith Hinnant, Ray Miley and Quinten Moore.
Thomas Hilliard was the runner-up in the 110m hurdles at 13.74.
The USC men’s 4x100m relay finished sixth in the college section with a time of 41.31.
