April 7, 2012

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By Miquel Jacobs
Assistant Media Relations Director

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Senior Breanna Radford won the women’s shot put and the Gamecocks posted top five finishes in five events including the men’s 4×200-meter relay as South Carolina concluded competition at the Pepsi Florida Relays.

Radford threw a personal best 50’5 ½ (15.38m) to post South Carolina’s first win at the prestigious meet since Brandi Cross and Booker Nunley both earned collegiate wins at the 2010 Florida Relays. Her mark ranks fourth in the SEC with one month to go before the SEC Outdoor Championships. Senior Katie Vuckovich took fifth overall at 47’9 ¼ (14.56m) to highlight the women’s field events Saturday.

Senior Marvin Reitze placed second overall in the men’s pole vault with a top clearance of 17’4 ½ (5.30m), his second top two finish of the week after winning the Gamecock Open Meet on Wednesday at 17’6 ½ (5.35m). Classmate Louis Day placed third in the men’s shot put at 54’6 ½ (16.62m), South Carolina’s best finish in the event since SEC champion Jason Cook also took third overall at the 2009 Florida Relays.

The focus of the final day of competition was the relays, and the Gamecock men responded with season best times in all three that they competed in. The 4×200-meter relay team of Andre Carter, Chris Royster, Eric Winfrey and Clayton Gravesande finished fourth overall at 1:22.76, the fourth-best time in program history. Gravesande, Winfrey and Royster also teamed with freshman Damiere Byrd in the 4×100-meter relay to place sixth at 39.92, while Gravesande, Royster and Carter teamed with freshman Juan Stenner in the 4×400-meter relay to place 15th at 3:09.41.

The women’s 4×200-meter relay team of Vashti Bandy, Kelsey McCorkle, Nadonnia Rodriques and Christal Green took sixth overall at 1:35.43 for the best finish amongst the three women’s relay teams. In the 4×400-meter, Rodriques, Green, Erika Rucker and Amber Allen placed eighth at a season-best 3:35.84 to move into the national top 15 in the event.

The final women’s relay team of Bandy, McCorkle, Green and Allen placed 26th in the 4×100-meter relay at 46.30.

The Gamecocks also had top 10 finishes from sophomore Emily Laurence in the javelin throw and senior Stacee Roberts in the shot put invitational. Laurence had a best toss of 135’8 (41.35m) to place seventh overall in the javelin, and Roberts threw 47’5 ¼ (14.46m) in the shot put to place ninth.

South Carolina travels to Athens, Ga., next weekend to compete in the Spec Towns Invitational on the campus of the University of Georgia.