Feb. 26, 2011

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By Miquel Jacobs
Media Relations Assistant

SEC Indoor Championships | Friday – Sunday Live Results | Live Blog | Live Video | SC Notes

General Information | SEC Indoor Championships at Fayetteville, Ark. Championship Central | Women’s Heat Sheets | Men’s Heat Sheets

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Day one is in the books with the conclusion of the women’s pentathlon and half of the men’s heptathlon. A quick rundown shows Ceci Kryst hitting a new collegiate best with 3,217 points in the pentathlon while Jerry Thompson III sits eighth and Chris Sharp sits 11th through four events in the men’s heptathlon.

Saturday is a new day and the start of the many prelims and finals that will determine who goes home with SEC glory. Senior sprinter Lakya Brookins wrote a quote yesterday that perfectly summarizes the path of the conference tournament: “Gold medals aren’t made of GOLD … They’re made of SWEAT, DETERMINATION, and a hard to find alloy called GUTS!!” There’s no doubt that Coach Curtis Frye’s Gamecocks have put in hours of sweat with the training the staff of Kevin Brown, Lawrence Johnson, Delethea Quarles, Stan Rosenthal and Mike Sergent have put them through. In addition to the team’s work with strength coach Joe Connolly, the team has worked towards the goal of contributing to the cause here in Fayetteville, Ark., at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

Determination. Traveling with the team you can feel the determination to go out and compete. That determination was noticeable at the breakfast table Friday morning where three distance runners were sitting together. Coach Rosenthal offered the three women the option to go to practice later than the rest of the team in order to put in their miles of training outside when the weather wasn’t 30 degrees anymore. The trio agreed that the option was beneficial but senior Ashley Evens, senior Laura Pramstaller and freshman Liz Locke also told their coach that they wanted to go with the rest of the team to get in training on the actual track as well. That determination to prepare themselves for competition is what breeds success.

The next two days will portray the amount of guts that this team has. History has shown that the Gamecocks lay it all out on the line at the SEC Championships. Last season, all of Kettiany Clarke’s teammates returned to the track late at night to see her lat it all out on the line in the 800-meter run to win the pentathlon title. At the outdoor championships, the Gamecock contingent went wild with ecstasy when Beatrice Biwott defied the “paper rankings” to win the 3,000-meter steeplechase title. And everyone celebrated last year when Obakeng Ngwigwa competed in four finals in the last day of the SEC Outdoor Championships to score in the 200-meter, 400-meter, 4×100-meter relay and 4×400-meter relay, earning two bronze medals in the process.

So while gold medals are not a certainty for the team or for individuals, there is no denying that South Carolina’s team possesses all the qualities necessary to be champions regardless of the outcomes. The battles begin today with finals in the women’s weight throw (Katie Vuckovich, Stacee Roberts and Breanna Radford) and high jump (Staley Foster, Kayla Blake and Jeannelle Scheper) in addition to the men’s pole vault (Matt Shuler) and long jump ( and Jarett Gerald). Robert Razick, Beatrice Biwott and Ashley Evens will also compete in 3,000-meter run finals as well.

Of those events, keep a special eye out for Shuler in the pole vault at 1 p.m. ET. The senior from West Columbia is having a breakout year and not only is fighting to medal for the second straight season – he earned bronze last year as a junior – he is also jockeying for position in the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Competition for the women’s weight throw begins at 11 a.m. ET, and the first running event is the 60-meter hurdle prelims at 2:30 p.m. ET. Be sure to visit the links at the top of this page for live results, live video, a live interactive blog hosted by Arkansas and championship central. Watch the video below for highlights from day one action courtesy of assistant coach Lawrence Johnson.

Tomorrow morning’s edition of Gamecock Quick Sprints will lay out the first two days of competition that has completed in addition to spotlighting all of the finals including Michael Zajac in the weight throw.