June 7, 2007
In about 15 minutes South Carolina’s head track coach Curtis Frye’s face went from one of deep concentration to a big smile as all four of the Gamecocks’ 400m hurdlers advanced to the semi-finals with runner-up finishes in the first round of the NCAA Track and Field Championships. Later Carolina advanced its men’s and women’s 4x400m relay to Saturday’s finals with both winning its heats.
“We had a good day. We some very solid performances,” said Frye. “The goal at this meet is to advance the first few days and see who is left standing on Saturday. Thomas Hilliard came off a hard day yesterday – running the hurdle double is tough – and competed well today. We have to keep stepping up.”
The men’s 4x400m relay, who finished third at the NCAA Indoor Championship and came in with the third-fastest time outdoors (3:03.86), won its heat at 3:04.72. The relay was made up of Quentin Moore (46.7), Derron Flood (46.3), Jamil James (45.6) and Ray Miley (45.7).
The women won its heat with the time of 3:29.98 – the top time of the day. The women’s 4x400m relay, who won the NCAA indoor title and has won every race this year outdoors, was made up of Krystal Cantey (52.8), Faraign Giles (52.6), Chiquita Martin (52.8) and Natasha Hastings (51.1).
Thomas Hilliard, already a finalist in Friday’s 110m hurdles race, finished as the runner-up in his heat at 51.21. Two heats later, teammate Jussi Heikkila finished as the runner-up in his heat with a time of 51.16. Both advance to Friday evenings semi-finals.
“I came into the race trying to advance and once I saw I would finish second (top two make the semi-finals automatically), I just hung on,” said Hilliard – an NCAA indoor All-American in the 60m hurdles with a sixth place finish.
“It was the first round,” said Heikkila, the pride of Virrat, Finland. “It felt easy, like it should for the first round.”
In the next event on the track, Chiquita Martin of Anderson followed up the Gamecock trend by finishing as the runner-up in the 400m hurdles with a lifetime best of 57.43. Two heats later Krystal Cantey also finished as the runner-up in the hurdles with a time of 57.01.
“I decided to focus on my race this time and not worry about the person next to me. I usually look at the person next to me and I didn’t do that. It worked so I think I will continue to do that,” said Martin.
