Feb. 2, 2013

NEW YORK, N.Y. – South Carolina completed their second day of competition at the Armory Collegiate Invitational on Saturday with four wins. The No. 21 ranked South Carolina women finished fourth on the overall, behind LSU, Clemson and Kansas.

Redshirt junior Dorian Johnson won the men’s triple jump college section while sophomore Erika Rucker won the women’s 400-meter championship race. The men’s and women’s 4×200-meter relay teams picked up victories in the championship section.

Johnson secured the first Gamecock win of the weekend, with a victory in the college section of the men’s triple jump. Johnson won his second triple jump event in as many weeks with a leap of 49’4 ¼ (15.04m).

Rucker ran her best 400-meters of the season, taking the win in the women’s championship section after qualifying for finals. Yesterday, Rucker ran a 53.83 to advance and ran a 52.93 to capture the win today. Her time from today would rank third in the collegiate ranks this season.

The Gamecocks swept the 4×200-meter relay championship sections with the men running a 1:25.81 in their race and the women finishing in 1:38.07. Both the men’s and women’s times rank third fastest in the NCAA season rankings.

In one of the most anticipated races of the day, four of the top five times in the women’s 4×400-meters this season faced off in the second section of the 4×400-meter relay championship section. The team ran a time of 3:39.72 to finish third in the heat and fifth overall. The women were without senior Nadonnia Rodriques who did not finish the 400-meters yesterday due to injury.

For the men, the foursome of junior Clayton Gravesande, senior Andre Carter and freshmen Jermaine Collier and Dondre Echols finished third in their heat at 3:12.59, finishing seventh overall.

The Gamecocks kicked off the day with a sixth place finish from freshman Mary Fouse in the 5,000-meter college race. Fouse ran a season-best 17:15.95 in the race. Freshman Lisa Zimmer competed in the college mile run for the Gamecocks, taking 16th place with a collegiate best of 4:59.85. The South Carolina youth continued to make a strong showing with freshman Anna Todd taking 12th in the women’s 800-meter college section with a time of 2:14.77.

Junior Jeannelle Scheper took second in the women’s championship high jump with a clearance of 5’11 ¼ (1.81m).

In the 200-meter championship heats, the Gamecocks just missed out of berths in the finals in both the men’s and women’s races. Junior Chris Royster ran a season-best 21.65 to finish 13th, just outside of the 12-man final. Royster was .02 behind the last runner that advanced.

Freshmen Alexis Murphy and Tyler Brockington finished 15th and 16th, respectively in the women’s 200-meter championship heats. Murphy ran a time of 24.51 and Brockington was at 24.52, both were collegiate bests.

In the men’s college pole vault, freshman Austin Eckenroth cleared a mark of 16’0 ¾ (4.90m) for the third time this season. Eckenroth placed fifth in the section.

Next weekend, the Gamecocks split the squad, sending athletes to the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., as well as the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, S.C.

4.90m // 16-00.75

15.97m // 53-04.75FOUL