May 25, 2007

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Complete Results

Gainesville, Fla. – In the first event of the NCAA East Region Championship, Goose Creek native and Carolina senior Tyler Trout, a former walk-on, finished fifth in the hammer and qualified for the NCAA Championships June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif. The NCAA East Region meet runs through Saturday night with USC advancing 10 individuals in six events to the finals. Both the 4x100m relays advanced tomorrow; and the 4x400m relays are in the finals as well. But USC also suffered a BIG set-back as well.

Three Gamecocks advanced to the finals of two individual events each with Thomas Hilliard (110m hurdles, 400m hurdles), Chiquita Martin (100m hurdles, 400m hurdles) and Natasha Hastings (200m, 400m) all moving to the finals of two events.

The Gamecocks did have one large disappointment on Friday: USCs defending NCAA 200m champion will not have a chance to defend her title after all as junior Shalonda Solomon withdrew from the prelims of the 200m due to injury. She was the 100m and 200m NCAA East Region champion in 2006. Solomon has a strained left quad and did not run the prelims. Earlier in the day she finished 11th overall when she ran an 11.70 to finish second in her heat of the 100m.

“I didn’t want to finish my season this way,” said Solomon. “I wanted a chance to defend my NCAA title outdoors and it won’t happen. My season isn’t over – I plan to continue to rehab, revisit the doctors and pray for the best. It was a very difficult decision because I wanted to give it my all for my teammates, but many of them have stepped up today.”

Trout, who threw a personal best 204′ 3 in the first throw of the finals, came in seeded No. 10 (202′ 10). Trout’s throw is the eighth best throw in USC school history and tops his personal best by more than a foot and a half. Later in the day Trout finished seventh in the discus overall at 174′ 8, another personal best, but did not advance to the NCAA Championship.

“What an amazing day! I went to the finals of the hammer in seventh place and I knew I had to start the finals with a big throw. I have been really focused the last couple weeks, but especially the last couple days,” said Trout, a graduate of Stratford High School and a former South Carolina media relations intern. “Now my goal is to make the finals at the NCAA Championship and be an All-American. I know to do that I have a lot of work to do in the next couple weeks. I have a lot of practice in front of me, but I really look forward to it.”

“This is one of the greatest parts of the regional championships – you can come in seeded 10th and compete head to head to finish fifth like Tyler did,” said USC throws coach Mike Sergent. “We knew if he competed like he did at the SEC meet (where he finished fourth), he would have a chance today. He put a lot of pressure on the rest of the field by hitting that big throw to start the finals. We are just really really proud of Tyler.”

Dan McKenzie finished eighth in the pole vault, jumping 16′ 7 1/4.

Dreher High School graduate Brittney James hit the board for a personal best long jump of 20′ 4 to finish sixth in the finals. She came in seeded No. 25 and will have to wait until the weekend is over to find out if she will make the NCAA Championship.

“She fouled her last jump, but it looked like it might have been enough to get her back to fourth place. That’s how it goes sometimes. She competed really well today,” said USC jumps coach Dee Quarles.

Hastings ran a very relaxed race to win her heat at 53.14 and advance to the 400m. A bit later Hastings posted the top time of the day with a new personal best in the 200m at 22.61 to advance to the finals.

Hilliard advanced to the finals of the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.97 – the second fastest time of the day. He later won his heat of the 400m hurdles to advance to the finals at 51.24.

Jussi Heikkila also advanced to the finals by winning his heat of the 400m hurdles with a time of 50.80 – the fourth-best time of the day.

Also running the 400m, freshman Brandi Cross ran a personal best 52.87 to advance to the finals, finishing second in her heat. On the men’s side Jamil James also posted a personal best to finish second in his heat and advance to the finals at 46.50.

Freshman Krystal Cantey won her heat of the 400m hurdles with a time of 58.90 to advance to the finals. She was the runner-up at the SEC meet. Chiquita Martin finished second in her heat of the 100m hurdles to advance to the finals at 13.48. Later Martin qualified for the 400m hurdles final with a time of 58.90, finishing second in her heat.

In other action early at the East Region, USC’s women won its heat of the 4x100m relay to advance to the finals with a time of 44.63. USC ran Cross, Hastings, Faraign Giles and Chiquita Martin on the relay. USC, who won the 4×1 at the SEC Championship two weeks ago, won the title last year at the East Region meet.

The men’s 4x100m relay finished second in its heat to qualify for the finals with a time of 40.71. The Gamecock relay consisted of James, Nick Lytle, Quinten Moore and Derron Flood and came in seeded No. 16.

Those not advancing to the finals, but competing included three Gamecocks in the 100m hurdles: Ronnetta Alexander was third in her heat, 10th overall, at 13.60; Brittney James was fourth in her heat at 13.79 (14th overall) and Trier Young was fourth in her heat at 14.03 (22nd overall). Young also ran the 400m hurdles and finished fifth in her heat.

Not advancing to the finals in the 400m, Faraign Giles was second in her race to finish 11th overall (53.95) and Stephanie Smith did not finish due to injury. On the men’s side Ray Miley was third in his heat at 46.98 and Derron Flood was third in his heat as well at 47.25.

Gamecocks Advancing to the NCAA Championships (June 6-9, Sacramento, Calif.)
Men
Hammer

Gamecocks Advancing to Saturday’s NCAA East Region Finals

USC has also qualified both its 4x400m relays for the meet tomorrow – with both entering the meet seeded No. 1. The women’s relay is No. 1 in the country and the men’s relay is No. 3 nationally.

Men

(Jamil James, Nick Lytle, Quinten Moore and Derron Flood)

110m hurdles

400m

400m hurdles

Women

(Brandi Cross, Natasha Hastings, Faraign Giles and Chiquita Martin)

100m hurdles

400m Hurdles

200m

400m