July 10, 2012

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina’s Erika Rucker, Jeannelle Scheper and incoming freshman Dondre Echols will represent their countries this week at the 14th IAAF World Junior Championships in Barcelona, Spain. The meet will run July 10-15 at the Olympic Stadium.

Rucker will represent the United States in the 400-meter dash Wednesday morning after qualifying at the US Junior National Championships in June. She is ranked 10th amongst all 400-meter runners and has two rounds to advance to the final race of nine that will take place Friday evening. She will also race on the US 4×400-meter relay team, which is favored to win Gold.

Scheper, who enters ranked 16th, will represent St. Lucia and opens her competition Friday morning with the women’s high jump qualifying round. The top 12 will advance to the finals Sunday evening. Scheper most recently won gold at the CACAC Championships, her first gold medal on the international level.

Echols, an incoming freshman from Temple Hill, Md., will compete for the United States in the men’s 110-meter hurdles competition that begins Tuesday with the final taking place Thursday.