March 5, 2012

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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Selections for the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships were released Monday night by the Division I Men’s and Women’s Track and Field Committee with the South Carolina track and field programs earning four entries. The event takes place Friday-Saturday, March 9-10, in Nampa, Idaho, at Jacksons Track at the Idaho Center.

Three Gamecock women earned bids in senior Kierre Beckles, sophomore Jeannelle Scheper and freshman Erika Rucker. On the men’s team, senior Marvin Reitze earned a bid.

Beckles earned her second consecutive an at-large bid as the nation’s sixth-ranked 60-meter hurdler. The SEC silver medalist owns the South Carolina school record and Barbados national record in the event at 8.11, set two weeks ago at the SEC Indoor Championships.

Scheper earned her first career NCAA bid in the high jump with the eighth-best mark in the country. Her mark of 6’0 (1.83m) is a South Carolina program record, and the 17-year old St. Lucia native became just the second Gamecock woman to medal in the high jump at any SEC Championship – indoor or outdoor – with her bronze medal finish two weeks ago.

Rucker was named the SEC Freshman Runner of the Year after a 400-meter dash season that saw her improve from a season-opening 55.43 to a personal best 53.08 just 35 days later to place fourth overall at the SEC Indoor Championships. She is the third-fastest 400-meter dash freshman in the nation and ranks 10th overall in the event.

Reitze earned his first NCAA Indoor Championships bid in the pole vault after placing first or second in every meet this season. Reitze, who missed the entire 2011 season to injury, earned bronze at the SEC Indoor Championships at a personal best 17’11 ¾ (5.48m), his third medal in three tries at SEC Indoors. Although it’s his first NCAA Indoor Championship, Reitze has made two appearances at the national outdoor championships, highlighted by his fourth-place finish as a freshman in 2009.

SOUTH CAROLINA DECLARATIONS
Name – Event – Competition Day/Time
Kierre Beckles – Women’s 60m Hurdles – Friday, 5:45 p.m. (MT) Prelims // Saturday, 6:45 p.m. (MT) Finals
Marvin Reitze – Men’s Pole Vault – Friday, 4:30 p.m. (MT)
Erika Rucker – Women’s 400m Dash – Friday, 6:15 p.m. (MT) Prelims // Saturday, 7:05 p.m. (MT) Finals
Jeannelle Scheper – Women’s High Jump – Friday, 8:00 p.m. (MT)