Feb. 8, 2014

Results

NEW YORK – With a total of 55 points, the No. 15 South Carolina track and field women’s team captured third place at the Armory Collegiate Invitational. The team’s first scored meet of the season was held at the New Balance Track & Field Center at The Armory and was dubbed the USTFCCCA’s National Meet of the Week. Senior high jumper Jeannelle Scheper was named meet MVP as she set a new meet record and stayed undefeated on the season.

Scheper, the national leader, topped a 1-2 South Carolina finish with a meet record clearance of 6’2″ (1.88m). Teammate Sarah Graham set a new personal record by 2 ½” and moved into second place in school history with a clearance of 5’10” ½ (1.79m). Scheper and the redshirt sophomore stand 1-2 in the South Carolina all-time top 10. With Graham’s new mark, the Gamecocks now have two athletes in the NCAA’s top 20 in the event.

As the defending women’s 4×200-meter relay champions, the Gamecocks had a standard to live up to in today’s race. The squad of freshman Briana Haith, senior Vashti Bandy, sophomore Alexis Murphy and freshman Maya Evans went out strong, building a healthy lead. Evans held off a late change from Rutgers to capture the win by just .03 seconds. The winning time of 1:37.18, is the fourth-fastest time in meet history.

In the final event of the day, the Gamecock women captured another relay championship. The quartet of freshman Precious Holmes, sophomore Tyler Brockington, junior Tamera Harris and Haith ran the fastest time of the season for South Carolina at 3:37.79. The time puts the Gamecocks in the top 10 nationally this season.

Yesterday, Holmes and junior Erika Rucker qualified for today’s 400-meter dash championship final with times of 53.98 and 54.47, respectively. Holmes made a move with 100 meters to go in the prelims and did the same today. The freshman ran down one competitor and nearly caught the eventual winner, but ran out of room. She will take home second place. Holmes set a new PR with her time of 53.33 which is the ninth-fastest time in the country this season and second amongst freshmen.

In her first weekend in the 400 meters in 2014, Rucker placed second in her heat and fifth overall at 54.04. The time puts Rucker in the nation’s top 25.

Running against her twin sister from FIU in the same heat, freshman Mary Reiser posted her best collegiate finish. At a lifetime-best pace of 17;17.94, Reiser’s time is the sixth-best in school history and earned her fifth place. Gamecock Christine Kent also PR’d in the event.

Earlier in the day, Brockington collected a fourth-place finish in the women’s 200-meter championship section. In the final, Brockington set a new lifetime best of 24.09. In the prelims, the Gamecock registered a top-nine time of 24.32 to earn a spot in the final. Bandy and Murphy also won their heats in the prelims.

Senior Chris Royster gave the Gamecocks a second representative in the 200-meter championship finals with his time of 21.66 to get him to the finals. In the competitive field, Royster also finished fourth, clocking in at 21.60.

Up next for South Carolina is a trip to Fayetteville, Ark., for a meet against many SEC competitors at the Tyson Invitational.