Jan. 31, 2015

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NEW YORK, N.Y. – After setting a new season-best time to qualify for the 60-meter hurdles Friday afternoon, Dondre Echols upped the bar on Saturday, claiming the overall title. His win was one of three for the men in the final day of the Armory Invitational in New York City.

With a national audience joining in on NBC Sport Network, Echols and his teammates Jermaine Collier and Isaiah Moore would all finish in the top five, with Collier taking fourth and Moore fifth behind the victor Echols.

Ncincilili Titi would also soak up the primetime spotlight, posting the seventh-fastest time in the 200m in program history to win the event. His mark of 21.16 is the fastest by any Gamecock in the event since the 2008 season.

For the team’s final win of the night, Echols and Collier would team up with Clayton Gravesande and Jussi Kanervo in the 4x400m relay. Gravesande would hand the team the lead right off the first leg, and Collier brought it home on the glory leg, finishing just under a second ahead of Clemson.

Tyler Brockington led the women with two top-five finishes on the day. She started with a fourth-place finish in the 60m. After recording the fifth-best preliminary time in the 200m, she finished second overall after running a 23.88 final heat. Though she won her individual heat, the winning time was an achingly close .01 ahead to rob her of the win.

In the women’s relays, Carolina would finish third in the 4x200m and 4×400, and ninth in the 4×800.

The team’s triple jumpers started the morning of field events, and LeAnna Morrison led the way with a second-place finish. Her first jump of 12.96m would hold up throughout the competition. Michael Wamer finished 16th in the men’s competition (14.69m). In the weight throw, Clarence Gallop finished fifth with his second-furthest throw of the season (18.93m) and Josh Awotunde took 11th (17.38m).

A familiar face was competing in the women’s high jump invitational, as Gamecock great Jeanelle Scheper competed unattached and represented her home country of St. Lucia. She bested Nike’s Chaunte Lowe with a jump of 1.90m, just a half inch from matching her program record set back in the 2013 season

The Gamecocks will get a much-needed break from the road next weekend, as they will host the first of just two home meets for the 2014 season. The USC Open will begin on Saturday at the Indoor Track Facility.