March 30, 2012

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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – South Carolina junior Breanna Radford earned the sole Gamecock win and led a 1-2-3 finish in the women’s shot put to cap the first day of competition at the Best Western/UNF Invitational at Hodges Stadium.

The meet gives the Gamecocks their first look at Hodges Stadium, site of the upcoming NCAA East Preliminary Championship Round that will be held in late May. In addition to Radford’s win, South Carolina earned runner-up finishes from Katie Vuckovich, Petra Olsen, Chalese Davis and Beatrice Biwott.

Radford had a best throw of 495 ½ (15.07m) to earn the women’s shot put victory and was followed by teammates Vuckovich (46’0 ¾ // 14.04m) and Stacee Roberts (45’6 ½ // 13.88m) in second and third, respectively. Olsen took second overall in the women’s pole vault at 12’5 ½ (3.80m), matching her performance last week at the Weems Baskin Invitational that ties matches her outdoor collegiate best mark. Biwott took second in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at 10:44.13, her first steeplechase run of the season.

Davis placed second in the 100-meter hurdle prelims at a season-best time of 13.79 (+1.4). The freshman also competed in the long jump with a mark of 17’11 (5.46m) to place 19th overall.

The Gamecock women had a trio of strong performances in the distance events. Penny Boswell ran a PR of 36:53.83 in the 10,000-meter run to take fourth overall and move to No. 4 in the Gamecock history books. Freshman Kayla Lampe took 12th in the 5,00-meter run at 17:12.47, freshman Maggie Henderson placed 23rd in the 5,000-meter run at 18:59.41, and freshman Meredith Mill ran a PR of 4:35.11 in the 1,500-meter run to place 11th overall and crack the Gamecock all-time top 10 as well.

A small contingent of Gamecock men competed Friday night with top five finishes coming in the 100-meter dash, 1,500-meter run, pole vault and shot put. Freshman Eric Winfrey took fifth in the 100-meter prelim at a season-best time of 10.61 (+2.2), and classmate Chris Walker also qualified for Saturday’s final at 10.77 (+2.9). Robert Razick took fifth in the 1,500-meter run at a season-best time of 3:55.07.

Seniors Marvin Reitze and Matt Shuler jumped the same marks they jumped last week in the men’s pole vault as Reitze placed third at 16’10 ¾ (5.15m) and Shuler placed fourth at 16’4 ¾ (5.00m). Louis Day earned the final top-five finish in the shot put with a toss of 54’6 (16.61m).

Competition concludes Saturday at the North Florida Invitational before the Gamecocks return home for a mid-week meet at the Weems Baskin Track next Wednesday.