April 2, 2015
GAINESVILLE, FLA. – All eyes will be on Gainesville this weekend, as the Gamecocks head to the Florida Relays, hosted by the Gators. Featuring many of the top teams in the NCAA East region, the meet will give Carolina a chance to gauge itself not just against many SEC rivals, but also where it stands nationally.
WEEKEND INFORMATION
Date: Fri., April 3 – Sat., April 4
Start Time: Fri. – 3:00 p.m. ET | Sat. – 11 a.m. ET
Location: Gainesville, Florida
Facility: James G. Pressly Stadium at Percy Beard Track
Live Results: Live Results
Video: SEC Network +
Tickets: Information
Led in large part by three top-ten marks in program history in throwing events, the Gamecock track and field team wrapped up a busy weekend Saturday at the Crimson Tide Invitational. The field events in general would power the Gamecocks in the team standings, leading the men’s team to a second-place finish while the women took third.
The meet began Friday evening, with the women’s javelin and men’s hammer throws. Freshman Shelby Freedman’s first measured throw of the night would hold up as the top mark, clinching her first collegiate win in the javelin with a throw of 153 feet, one inch. The mark is the second-best in program history.
In the hammer, Clarence Gallop finished as the top attached competitor, with a toss of 203 feet, six inches. He enters the program record book with the tenth-best mark ever, and it was the best mark in the event by any Gamecock since 2010. It is the 23rd-best throw in the nation through the first two weekends of competition.
The throwing events also closed out the meet with a win, with Josh Awotunde pulling off a dramatic comeback to win the men’s shot put. He sat in third place through his first five throws, but added almost four feet to his final attempt to vault into first place. The 60 feet, ten inch mark set a meet record, and come in at sixth in the program’s outdoor top ten list. He now sits in 16th nationally for the shot. The strong finale capped a breakout weekend for the redshirt freshman, who also finished fifth in the discus with a toss of 185-3, the eighth-longest in program history and 24th-best so far this season in Division I.
Fresh off a record-setting weekend of her own at the Shamrock Invite, Jeannelle Scheper won the high jump again Saturday, breaking the meet record with a height of 1.86 meters (6′ 1.25″). The mark tied with UCLA’s Zibby Boyer for the best high jump mark in the national for the weekend. Nakita Gray would finish second, jumping five feet, 10.75 inches. Scheper continues to lead the nation in the event by two inches, and Gray sits at eighth overall in Division I.
The team would have one winner in the individual track events, with Dondre Echols taking the 110-meter hurdles title. He finished in 13.87 (+2.7), followed by teammate Isaiah Moore in second place (13.94). Echols’ mark also set a new meet record, and Moore ran the 11th-fastest 110 hurdles time in the nation through two weeks.
For the women, Chalese Davis scored in both hurdle events, taking second in the 100-meter event and third in the 400. Sarah Falta and Allie Whitley finished second and third in the steeplechase, respectively, and Whitley would record the fourth-fastest steeplechase in program history, behind Falta on the list.
In the sprints, Gabby Gray scored with a second place finish in the 100, and Aalayah Faulcon led the team with a third-place time in the 400. The one win for the women’s team came from the 4×400 relay team of Faulcon, Gray, Maya Evans and Briana Haith.
Around the SEC, the Gamecocks have 14 athletes ranking in the top five of their respective events, and 13 rank in the top 25 nationally in 11 different events.
Serving as captains this weekend will be Chris Walker and Kaleb Zuidema for the men, and Chalese Davis and Jeannelle Scheper for the women. Walker is a senior from Bowie, Md. and will compete in the 400-meter. Zuidema is a redshirt sophomore from Midland Park, N.J. and will compete in the javelin. Davis is a senior from Hercules, Calif., competing in the 100-meter hurdles and Scheper is a senior from Saint Lucia, looking for her third straight win in the high jump.
