Jan. 29, 2015
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Carolina will close out the month of January in a big way this coming weekend, traveling to New York City for the Armory Invitational. The team will have to fight Winter Storm Juno to get there, but once there it will take on over 70 college teams from ranging from as far west as California to as far north as Canada.
In their last time out, the Gamecocks split the team up, sending athletes to the Bob Pollock Invitational at Clemson and the Hokie Invitational at Virginia Tech. It was the first weekend of competition for the multis, and the three competitors showed little rust.
On the women’s side, Chalese Davis and Sarah Graham finished second and third, respectively, in the pentathlon. Davis’ total of 3,877 points currently ranks tenth in the nation and gives her the fifth-highest score in program history. Graham wasn’t too far behind, and her 3,754 points are 17th-best in the nation.
For the men, newcomer Markus Leemet wasted little time making an impact with the team, winning the men’s heptathlon at the Bob Pollock Invite with an adjusted score of 5,205. After trailing through the first four events, he swept the final three on the last day of the weekend to clinch a dominating win. He came in first in five of the seven total events. In total, Carolina won three individual events at each meet.
Serving as captains this weekend will be Chris Walker and Eric Winfrey for the men and Tyler Brockington and Anna Todd for the women. Walker is a senior from Bowie, Md. who has competed in the 60- 200- and 300-meter races so far this season. Winfrey, a fellow senior from Fayetteville, N.C. is a two-time All-American in the 4x100m relay. Brockington (Greensboro, N.C) is a six-time All-American who recently set a new personal best in the 60m (7.47). Todd, a Spartanburg native, has top-10 records in four different events for the indoor season, including two set this season (1000m and 3000m).
Doors open at 8 a.m. Friday at the Armory, with competition beginning at 10:30. For directions, a list of competitors and ticket information, visit http://www.armorytrack.com. A live webcast will be available through the USATF website, a link will be available through the team’s schedule page.
