Sept. 12, 2014

Photo Gallery

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina held its 2014 Track and Field Banquet on Friday evening at the Dodie Anderson Academic Enrichment Center. Alums Me’Lisa Barber and Greig Cryer spoke to the attendees about their experience at South Carolina to start the night. The numerous academic and athletic accomplishments of the team from the 2014 season were recognized and the program honored winners of their special team awards. Captains for the upcoming season were also announced.

Barber was a member of the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championship team, and the 1999 and 2002 SEC Outdoor Championship teams. She was part of the 2000 NCAA Outdoor 4×400 championship team (3:28.64) and a runner-up in the 400 meters (50.87) at the 2002 championships. A 14-time All-American and six-time SEC champion, she is one of the most decorated athletes in South Carolina track and field history.

Cryer still owns the school’s indoor triple jump record at 52-5¼, while his outdoor triple jump mark ranks fifth. In the long jump, his outdoor mark ranks third all-time in school history, while his indoor mark is fourth. In 2006, he was a runner-up in the long jump at the SEC Indoor Championships.

It was revealed that the captains for the 2015 season are Jermaine Collier, Clayton Gravesande, Kevin Keating, Chris Walker, Eric Winfrey and Kaleb Zuidema for the men’s team, and Chalese Davis, Sarah Graham, Kayla Lampe, Erika Rucker, Jeannelle Scheper and Anna Todd for the women’s team. Each week throughout the season, the coaches will choose a captain of the week. Responsibilities will be to motivate the team, be in charge of what the teams wears and how they carry themselves at track meets. It’s important for captains to fit in a category where they train right, stay fit and stay in good academic standing.

“This year it’s great to have the kind of captains that we have,” Head Coach Curtis Frye said. “For the men, they all had very similar numbers on votes. [Jermaine] Collier and Clayton [Gravesande], they were top vote getters. The next group was all right behind them. It wasn’t a difficult choice, they’re all good guys. [Kevin] Keating has earned the right to represent the distance crew. Chris Walker has been an outstanding young man. Eric Winfrey has run on every national relay team that we’ve had, and [Kaleb] Zuidema was our top point getter at the conference meet. All of our groups are represented well.

“For the women, having Erica Rucker, Jeannelle Scheper and Kayla Lampe as returning captains, and we’re adding on Anna Todd, Sarah Graham and Chalese Davis this year,” Frye continued. “All are quality young ladies, outstanding in the classroom, high character and are contributors at the SEC and national level so we have everything with this group. We need the leadership that we had when we were in the Top 10 and winning national championships and I think we have a nucleus of that.”

Below is a list of the night’s 21 award winners.

2014 Track & Field Award Winners
Rookie of the Year Track (Men) – Jussi Kanervo
Rookie of the Year Field (Men) – Alex Asselin
Rookie of the Year (Women) – Precious Holmes
Co-Leadership (Men) – Joshua Suttmeier & Clayton Gravesande
Co-Leadership (Women) – Erika Rucker & Kaysee Sullivan
Comeback Award (Men) – Kaleb Zuidema
Comeback Award (Women) – Alexis Murphy
Most Improved Track (Men) – Drew Ricci
Most Improved Field (Men) – Walker Selby
Most Improved Indoor (Women) – Sarah Graham
Most Improved Outdoor (Women) – Anna Todd
Coaches’ Award (Men) – Sango Asante
Coaches’ Award (Women) – Mary Reiser
Co-Sportsmanship Award (Men) – Dondre Echols & Drew Ricci
Sportsmanship Award (Women) – Kayla Lampe
Indoor MVP (Men) – Jermaine Collier
Indoor MVP (Women) – Jeannelle Scheper
Indoor MVP Field (Men) – Chris Royster & Kaleb Zuidema
Indoor Co-MVP Field (Women) – Sarah Graham & Petra Olsen
Outdoor Co-MVP Track (Women) – Tyler Brockington & Ahtyana Johnson
Outstanding Performance Award (Men) – 4x100m Relay (Kendall Kee, Chris Royster, Eric Winfrey, Brandon Sanders)
Gamecock Gala Award Winner- The President’s Award – Jeannelle Scheper