Feb. 28, 2014

Results

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – South Carolina advanced five athletes to finals on the second day of competition at the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships at Texas A&M’s Gilliam Indoor Stadium. Senior Petra Olsen became the first Gamecock woman to score in the pole vault at SEC Indoors for four-straight seasons.

A trio of Gamecocks posted an eye-opening performance in the day’s first event, the 60-meter hurdles. In the first heat, sophomores Dondre Echols and Jermaine Collier finished 2-3 with times of 7.90 and 7.92, respectively. In the third heat, freshman Jussi Kanervo turned in the fastest Gamecock time of the day at 7.87. The personal-best time was the fourth-fastest qualifying time of the day.

All three athletes will race in tomorrow’s final at 2 p.m. ET. This marks the first time since 2009 that South Carolina advanced three to the 60-meter hurdle finals; Jason Richardson captured the crown that season.

In the 60-meter dash, junior Kendall Kee continued his impressive season, blazing a 6.65 to advance to the finals with the day’s fourth-fastest time. Kee had already earned his spot in South Carolina’s all-time top 10, but has now moved up to fourth all-time. Tomorrow’s 60-meter finals are set for 2:20 p.m. ET.

Freshman Precious Holmes introduced herself to the SEC in the women’s 400-meter dash preliminaries today. The Gamecock ran a lifetime best to punch a ticket to the finals, clocking in at 53.10. Holmes, who was named SEC Freshman of the Week after an impressive outing at the Armory Collegiate Invitational earlier this month, will run tomorrow at 3:10 p.m. ET.

Olsen entered the pole vault competition at 13′ ¼” (2.97m) and cleared two bars before she could not get over at 13′ 10″ (4.22m). By finishing in eighth place, she earned a point for the Gamecocks to give them four after two days of competition.

In total, 16 Gamecocks set new personal records on Friday and three entered or bettered an entry in the school’s all-time top 10 list. In addition to Kee’s performance in the 60-meter dash, sophomore Anna Todd ran the third-fastest mile in school history at 4:53.04 and sophomore Juan Stenner ran a 1:52.47 in the 800-meter run to rank him 10th all-time.

The 2014 SEC Indoor Championships come to a close tomorrow with events set to begin at 2 p.m. ET. Senior Jeannelle Scheper attempts to defend her high jump crown at 2:45 p.m. ET. ESPN3 is set to live stream all of the day’s competition.