March 13, 2014

The University of South Carolina track and field program earned three bids for this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., with senior high jumper Jeannelle Scheper, pentathlete Sarah Graham and the women’s 4×400-meter relay team of freshmen Precious Holmes, Briana Haith and Marissa Bellamy along with junior Tamera Harris prepared to represent the Gamecocks. The event is set for Fri., Mar. 14, and Sat., Mar. 15 at the Albuquerque Convention Center, and all three events with South Carolina participants are scheduled for Saturday. Graham kicks the day off in the pentathlon at 11:45 a.m. MT, Scheper jumps at 3:30 p.m. MT, and the 4×4 hits the track in the final event of the championships at 8:20 p.m. MT.

The Albuquerque Convention Center sits at 4,958 feet above sea level and will host the first Division I NCAA Championship at statistical altitude. South Carolina traveled to the site earlier this season to compete in the Cherry and Silver Invitational. At the competition, Scheper set a meet record to win the women’s high jump with a clearance of 6’2″ (1.88m). The height is the second-best collegiate mark in the facility’s history.

WEEKEND INFORMATION
Date: Fri., Mar. 14 – Sat., Mar. 15
Time: Fri. – 10 a.m. MT/ 12 p.m. ET | Sat. – 11 a.m. MT / 1 p.m. ET
Location: Albuquerque, N.M.
Facility: Albuquerque Convention Center
Live Results: Live Results
Meet Schedule | Meet Notes

LIVE STREAM SCHEDULE
Friday: ESPN3 Beginning at 7:55 p.m. ET
Saturday: ESPN3 Beginning at 7:50 p.m. ET

Jeannelle Scheper • High Jump • Sat., 5:30 p.m. ET
Already the finest high jumper in South Carolina history, Scheper will look to add to her resume by moving up a spot on the podium after sharing the high jump silver at the 2013 NCAA Indoor Championships. The St. Lucia native enters the championship weekend sharing the top spot in the NCAA with Georgia freshman Leontia Kallenou with a height of 6′ 2 ¾” (1.90m). Scheper cleared the height at her first meet of the season and twice more before Kallenou matched the mark at the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships.

At each of her five meets this season, Scheper has set or matched her own meet or facility record. The feat includes meet records at the prestigious Armory Collegiate and the SEC Indoor Championships. The Armory Collegiate honored Scheper with the Evelyn Lawler Lewis Award as the meet’s most outstanding competitor for her record-setting performance. The lone defeat of the Gamecock’s season came on misses at the SEC Indoor Championships to Kallenou where she earned silver. Scheper was recognized with as the USTFCCCA Southeast Region Field Athlete of the Year this week for her season accomplishments.

Earlier this season Scheper set a meet record at New Mexico’s Cherry & Silver Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center with a height of 6’2″ (1.88m), the second best collegiate mark in the facility’s history. Scheper bested a field that included Kallenou (6-00.75 // 1.85m) at the competition.

Sarah Graham • Pentathlon • Sat., 1:45 p.m. ET
Coming off a redshirt season in 2013, Sarah Graham has made tremendous strides in all areas this year. During the course of the 2014 indoor season Graham has set a new lifetime best at least once in each pentathlon event as well as total points. On her way to breaking the 4,000-point barrier at the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships at Texas A&M, Graham set new PRs in the long jump (5.47m // 17-11.50), shot put (11.84m // 38-10.25) and the 800-meter run (2:20.63). Her total of 4,107 points gave her a sixth place finish at the conference meet in a field that saw the top-eight finishers post at least 4,000 points. The total stands second in school history.

The Gamecock has also achieved the second-best high jump mark in school history earlier this season with a clearance of 5’10 ½” (1.79m) at the Armory Collegiate. The mark is 3 ½” better than her PR entering this season. Graham entered the high jump at SEC Indoors as well, also finishing sixth.

Graham is the first Gamecock to qualify in the pentathlon since Kettiany Clarke earned a bid in 2010 after her SEC Championship.

Women’s 4×4 Relay • Sat., 10:20 p.m. ET
South Carolina will take a squad of three freshmen in Precious Holmes, Marisa Bellamy and Briana Haith along with junior Tamera Harris to run in the final event of the 2014 NCAA Indoor Championships. The foursome has run together twice this season. In their first race together, they broke a 15-year-old facility record at Virginia Tech’s Rector Fieldhouse for their fastest time of the season at 3:34.97. The group followed up the performance with an SEC Indoor silver medal, clocking in at 3:35.02. Holmes, Haith and Harris were also a part of a win at the Armory Collegiate.

Holmes has run leadoff for the Gamecock 4×4 in four of five races she has participated in this season. The freshman, who is the third-fastest freshman in the SEC and fourth fastest in the NCAA in the quarter mile, gives the team a strong leadoff leg. All four athletes set to run on the 4×4 set new lifetime bests at the 2014 SEC Indoor Championships.

Last year, the Gamecocks finished 10th in the event at the NCAA Indoor Championships.

Up Next
The Gamecocks dive into the outdoor season next weekend at Coastal Carolina’s Shamrock Invitational on Mar. 20-22.