Jan. 30, 2015

Photo Gallery

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Gamecock track and field team opened competition at the Armory Invite Friday, and had strong results in the prelimaries for the 60 meter hurdles on the men’s side. The 1000m record book saw some major edits as well on both the men’s and women’s side in a busy day for Carolina.

The quartet of Jermaine Collier, Dondre Echols, Jussia Kanervo and Isaiah Moore would all finish in the top six through the first round of races, earning a spot in the semifinal round. From there, Echols, Collier and Moore would each qualify for the finals while Kanervo would finish just .13 seconds from joining them.

Echols set a new personal best with a time of 7.72 in the semis, and he enters the Saturday final as the top seed. His mark ranks at the ninth fastest in program history, while Collier’s time of 7.80 matched his personal best, the tenth fastest time in indoor history. The three Gamecock finalists’ times today were all better than the season best coming into the meet (7.87, by Echols).

There were plenty of records set in the distance events as well, starting with a new program record in the 1000m from Anna Todd. The junior finished eighth overall in the event, but ran a time of 2:50.51, which shattered her previous school record of 2:52.84. Allie Sprague’s finish in 2:59.44 was good for 25th overall and sixth-fastest in program history.

In the men’s 1000, Kevin Keating and Alex Sullivan would each post all-time top ten marks. Keating ran a 2:28.27 race and finished 13th overall, good for fifth all time. Sullivan beat his personal best with a finish in 2:29.39, sixth best all time to give him two marks in the top ten in the event for his career.

The team’s first win of the day would come in the women’s 400m, where the Gamecocks put two in the top four to boost the team’s overall score. Precious Holmes would win the event for the second time this season and set a season-low time in the event with a finish in 53.83. Briana Haith finished fourth, less than a second behind her teammate in what was a tight finish overall. The top seven runners were all just 1.02 seconds apart.

In field events, Josh Awotunde (fourth, shot put) and Alexis Murphy (third, long jump) finished in the top five of their respective events. In the high jump, Nakita Gray jumped 1.80m (5 feet, 10 3/4 inches) to finish second overall. That jump is good for the second best in program history, surpassing Sarah Graham’s mark of 5-10 1/2 set last season. Graham finished 13th overall Friday with a jump of 1.69m (5-6 1/2).

The meet will conclude tomorrow, with events beginning at 9 am. A live webcast will again be available through GamecocksOnline.com.