April 13, 2013

Complete Results

ATHENS, Ga. – On the second day of the Spec Towns National Team Invitational, the Gamecocks posted 27 top-five finishes, including two wins. Saturday was the final day of competition at the meet hosted by the University of Georgia.

Already holding the indoor and outdoor school records, junior Jeannelle Scheper bettered her outdoor mark in her season debut. With her outdoor best in Garnet and Black standing at 6 feet entering the day, Scheper cleared 6-02.00 (1.88m) on Saturday. The CARIFTA gold medalist finished second in the invitational section, but was the top collegian overall. The clearance ties Scheper for the lead in the East and for second in the nation. Levern Spencer, Scheper’s countrywoman from St. Lucia, took the win in the section, clearing 6-03.50 (1.92m).

Sophomore Meredith Mill snagged victory in the women’s 1,500-meter run, matching her personal best from last outdoor season at 4:35.11. The time ranks her 10th on the South Carolina all-time event list.

The men’s 4×100-meter relay team of freshman Kendall Kee, junior Chris Royster, senior Andre Carter and sophomore Eric Winfrey also registered a win, running a season best 40.11, ranking 11th in the East.

Continuing his solid outdoor season, Royster collected two top-five finishes and hit two new season bests. In the 100-meter dash, Royster finished fifth with a time of 10.42. Later in the day, Royster hit a new season-best in the 200-meter dash at 20.98 for a second place finish.

Freshman Jermaine Collier had a breakout meet, finishing in the top four in both hurdle events. Running a collegiate best 14.21 in the 110-meter hurdles gave Collier a third-place finish. In the 400-meter hurdles, Collier took fourth running his second collegiate best of the day at 52.56. The times rank Collier 37th (110-meter hurdles) and 23rd (400-meter hurdles) in the East.

The women’s relay teams finished second in both events. In the 4×100-meter relay, the team of freshman Tyler Brockington, sophomore Erika Rucker, junior Vashti Bandy and freshman Alexis Murphy clocked in at a season-best 45.01, the ninth fastest-time in the East. For the 4×400-meter relay, senior Kierre Beckles joined Rucker, Brockington and sophomore Christal Green to run a time of 3:45.32.

The 4×400-meter men’s squad of Carter, freshmen Collier and Dondre Echols and junior Clayton Gravesande, finished second with a season best of 3:10.00. The time is the 18th-best in the East.

Bandy nearly set a new PR in the 100-meter dash, running a time of 11.76, just one hundreth of a second off of her all-time best.

In his individual event of the day, Gravesande finished in fifth place in the men’s 400-meter with a time of 47.57. On the women’s side, Green finished fourth in the event, running a time of 55.06.

Brockington was the top Gamecock finisher in the women’s 400-meter hurdles, running a new personal best of 1:01.17. Sophomore Tamera Harris also finished in the top five, recording a time of 1:02.45.

The Gamecocks also placed athletes in the top-five in the 800-meter run on both the men’s and the women’s side. For the women, freshman Anna Todd registered the second-best time in the race with a season-best 2:11.07. For the men, redshirt sophomore Drew Ricci ran a new personal best at 1:53.42 to nab fifth.

In the 5,000-meter run, three Gamecocks reached the top-five. Junior Penny Boswell led a 2-3-4 finish with her time of 18.37.52. Freshman Christine Kent wasn’t far behind with a time of 18:40.83 and classmate Stephanie Berger clocked in at 18:42.94.

Senior Jarrod Hutchen picked up a third place finish in the men’s long jump, with a mark of 24-04.50 (7.43m).

The Gamecocks picked up three top-five finishes in the pole vault. Junior Petra Olsen finished third in the invitational section with a season-best mark of 13-06.25 (4.12m) to rank her sixth in the East. Sophomore Megan Wall matched her personal record, clearing 12-05.50 (3.80m) to finish second in the women’s pole vault. The mark puts in her the South Carolina outdoor top-10.

Freshman Jeffrey Linta took fourth in the men’s pole vault clearing at 15-01.00 (4.60m).

In the women’s discus, redshirt sophomore Kaysee Sullivan set a new personal record, recording a throw if 149-11 (45.69m) and finished in fourth.

The Gamecocks will take next weekend off before traveling to the 119th running of the Penn Relays in Philadelphia, Pa. The event is the last meet before the 2013 SEC Outdoor Championships in Columbia, Mo., May 9-12.