June 11, 2009

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Jason Cook achieved one of the goals he set for himself before his final season as the senior became the first Gamecock to earn All-America honors in the shot put since 1999 after placing seventh at the NCAA Outdoor Championships Thursday. He earned two points for the Gamecocks heading into the final two days of the championships at John McDonnell Field. CBS College Sports (Time Warner Ch. 150) will broadcast live Friday from 7-10 p.m. (ET), and CBS (WLTX-19) will broadcast live Saturday from 1-3 p.m. (ET).

Cook, who gave up his scholarship this season to allow the coaching staff to use it on a pole vault transfer “to help out the team”, had a top throw of 60-06 (18.44m) to earn his first All-America citation, a welcome honor after earning the SEC outdoor championship earlier this season. Not since three-time Olympian Brad Snyder earned the honor in 1999 has a Gamecock earned All-America honors in the shot put.

“It’s nice to get an All-American plaque, but I really wish I did better,” Cook said. “I was three feet off my PR. It’s really rough to go two days in a row and try to compete, and things just weren’t really clicking today. I can’t really complain. I was hoping to score more points for our team, but I still scored.”

“The big story of the day was Jason Cook in the shot put,” South Carolina head coach Curtis Frye said. “He put it all out, laid it all on the line and became our first All-American (at this meet). Now we need the rest of the team to lay it all out like he did.”

In keeping in line with expectations, the 110-meter hurdles duo of Jason Richardson and Booker Nunley performed as expected as each won his heat to qualify for Friday’s semifinal round. Richardson, the reining champion and national leader, took first in the qualifying round with a time of 13.41; Nunley bested his No. 4 ranking to claim third with a time of 13.69.

“My race was OK,” Nunley said. “I didn’t execute my start like I wanted to, but like usual I came on strong at the finish. I did the reverse of what Jason did, but just to win the first round is pretty good.”

“That was a crazy run on my part,” Richardson said of his top time of the day. “To run 13.41 without headwind, given the unfavorable conditions I’m definitely happy. I would have been happy if Booker was right behind me (in second place), but we’ll put it together in the finals.”

The duo will compete in the semifinals tomorrow at 7:05 p.m. Along with the high hurdles, Johnny Dutch will compete in tomorrow’s 400-meter hurdles final after placing second in today’s semifinal round with a time of 49.48. Dutch is the national leader in the event and will seek his third championship of the season after claiming the SEC and East Region titles in May.

“I feel pretty legit right now,” Dutch said. “I’m just trying to make it through my rounds and make it to the finals. I just give praise to God for allowing me to stay injury free right now. I’ve worked really hard this year so hopefully I’ll come out on top.”

Dutch’s final will run at 8:05 p.m. where he will likely be in a tight battle with Washington State’s Jeshua Anderson (49.27 in the semifinals) and Georgia’s Justin Gaymon (49.49 in the semifinals). Dutch was not able to run at the 2008 NCAA Championships due to an injury, but he was able to bounce back in time to place fifth at the U.S. Olympic Trials. After getting close to going to Beijing last year, the sophomore now hopes to help the Gamecocks sweep the hurdle championships.

“We have a joke running that Gamecock hurdling is the best hurdling in the country,” Richardson said. “We have number one and three in the country (in the 110-meter hurdles), and we have number one in the 400-meter hurdles, so we just want to show our dominance and let them know that Gamecock hurdling is where it’s at.”

The women’s mile relay team comfortably advanced to Saturday’s final with a sixth place finish at 3:33.98, just thousandths of a second off a season-best time. The team used the same lineup of Porche Byrd, Brandi Cross, Breehana Jacobs and Gabrielle Glenn that earned silver medal honors at the NCAA East Region meet two weeks ago. The final will be run Saturday at 1:35 p.m.

The men’s mile relay team also qualified for the finals with a seventh place finish. Consisting of Obakeng Ngwigwa, Johnny Dutch, Aaron Anderson and Quentin Moore, the team ran a 3:04.01, their second-best time of the year.

Sophomore Antonio Sales placed 13th in the 200m dash qualifying round at 20.97 before advancing to the semifinals where he ran a 20.77 to finish 11th overall.

Competition will continue Friday at 11 a.m. with the women’s hammer throw. The first Gamecock to hit the track will be NCAA East Region silver medalist Marvin Reitze, a freshman that will compete in the pole vault final at 3:45 p.m. (CT).