April 6, 2015
COLUMBIA, S.C. – A big weekend at the Florida Relays paid off for the men’s track and field team, as it made its outdoor debut on the USTFCCCA Top 25 Monday afternoon. The group moved up 14 spots from the preseason poll to sit at 16th in the country.
The ranking matches the men’s team’s best spot on the poll from the indoor season, when it peaked at 16 ahead of the national meet. It is the highest the team has been in the outdoor poll since the end of the 2010 season.
The poll, which uses regular season results to predict finishes at the NCAA championships, credited six Gamecocks as potential scorers at nationals based off of this past weekend alone. Dondre Echols and Isaiah Moore joined the list thanks to their times in the 110-meter hurdles, Jussi Kanervo in the 400-meter hurdles, Michael Wamer in the triple jump, Clarence Gallop in the hammer, and the 4×400 relay team of Ryan Bermudez, Clayton Gravesande, Eric Winfrey and Kanervo. The six joined Josh Awotunde, who was on the list already based off his performance in the shot put and discus at the Crimson Tide Invitational.
Regional rankings were also released Monday, and the men debuted at number two in the Southeast Region, trailing only SEC rival Kentucky. The conference is well-represented in the top 25, with ten men’s teams and ten women’s teams included. Texas A&M is currently number one for both the men and women’s polls.
The Carolina women’s team moved four spots up in the poll and sit at 33rd, just 18 points behind the 25th-ranked team in the current rankings. Next up for the Gamecocks will be the Bill Carson Invitational, hosted by East Carolina, which begins Friday morning.
