May 11, 2007

Tuscaloosa, Ala. – The South Carolina track and field teams are in Tuscaloosa this weekend for the Southeastern Conference Championship. Senior captain Tyler Trout (Goose Creek, S.C.) sat down with uscsports.com to discuss the SEC’s and his goals for the rest of the season. Trout, nicknamed ‘the Fish’, begins competition this Friday morning at 10 am in the hammer.

USC: What events are you competing in?

TT: The discus throw and the hammer throw are the only two events that I am competing in.

USC: Which one are you looking forward to the most?

TT: That’s a tough one. I’ve been doing really well in the discus, but I’ve always excelled in the hammer throw. I think I’ m looking forward to both of them equally honestly. Usually it would be hammer, but the discus has been going really well this year.

USC: As the season winds down, what are your personal goals heading in the SEC’s and Regional’s?

TT: My personal goal would be to score at Regional’s in both events (discus and hammer) and go to nationals in either or hopefully both events. Hopefully I’ll score in the top five at Regional’s, which will send me to nationals. Ultimately the goal is to go to nationals.

USC: What is the mood of the team going into SEC’s after such a strong showing at the Penn Relays?

TT: We’re all very excited and we’ve all had a very good year. It seems like all of strengths are coming out at the same time. It’s really exciting because we’re all peaking at the same time. It’s just awesome that we all peaked together at a big meet like the Penn Relays and then have SEC’s right after that.

USC: Anything else you want to say to Gamecock fans?

TT: We’ve all worked hard this season to build up to SEC’s, Regional’s and NCAA’s and it’s all coming to an end. We hope everything goes well and everyone stays healthy so that we can all do our best at SEC’s as we represent the University of South Carolina.