April 10, 2015
GREENVILLE, N.C. – Fresh off a big weekend down in Florida, the Gamecock track and field team will look to continue building on that success at the Bill Carson Invitation. The meet, hosted by East Carolina, begins Friday morning with field events and continues with track events on Saturday.
WEEKEND INFORMATION
Date: Fri., April 10 – Sat., April 11
Start Time: Fri. – 10:00 a.m. ET | Sat. – 11:00 a.m. ET
Location: Greenville, North Carolina
Facility: Minges Family Field at Bate Foundation Track & Field Facility
Live Results: Live Results
After reaching six qualifying marks in the USTFCCCA rankings, the Carolina men’s squad jumped up to No. 16 in the publication’s first regular season top 25 poll, and rank second in the southeast region. The move from 30 to 16 was the biggest poll-to-poll jump by any school in the top 25, and represents the team’s highest spot in the outdoor rankings since 2010.
Jeannelle Scheper was the highlight of day one, after she added an inch and a half to her collegiate record in the high jump, which she had matched in the outdoor opening weekend at the Shamrock Invite. Friday’s mark of 1.95 meters (6-4 3/4) also set a new lifetime best, which previously had been 1.92 meters at the 2013 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships. She maintains her title as the national collegiate leader by 3 1/4 inches over second place and also jumps up to number two in the world, trailing only Australia’s Eleanor Patterson’s 1.96 meters.
The men’s hurdlers also set some important marks on Friday, starting with Dondre Echols. He ran a personal-best time in the 110-meter hurdles, finishing eighth overall and second among collegiate competitors in a field of 66 runners. His time of 13.60 seconds currently ranks second in the nation, first in the SEC and 11th in the world. In South Carolina’s record book, Echols enters the top ten at number six, and recorded the best time by any Gamecock since the 2010 season. In the 400-meter hurdles, Jussi Kanervo set a new personal record, running a 50.22. That time is also the best since 2010 and put him in seventh, second among collegiate competitors.
In the field events, Clarence Gallop continues to heat up, setting another personal record in the hammer throw after a toss of 210 feet, six inches. After adding seven feet to last weekend’s meet to enter the program’s all-time top ten, Gallop now climbs to sixth on the list.
In the track events for the women, Hannah Giangaspro ran a 17:33.56 time in the 5000-meter. It shaved more than ten seconds off her season best, and meets the qualifying standard for the USATF Junior Nationals, held later this summer.
Though Saturday would feature only three non-relay events, Michael Wamer would make sure his triple jump would make the headlines. The sophomore finished third in the men’s triple jump at the Florida Relays with a mark of 54 feet and one half inch. He finished as the top collegiate athlete in the competition, and he moved to second in the NCAA ranking and ninth in the world.
With that big jump, Wamer also broke South Carolina’s program record, across both the indoor and outdoor seasons. The previous outdoor record was set back in 1975, and Wamer added nearly two full feet to his new record.
On the track, it would be all relays, and Carolina held its own against some of the best in the world. The 4×200 team of Chris Walker, Dondre Echols, DeVon Lewis and Greg Chiles finished fourth in the race, but were the top collegiate team in the field. The group’s time of 1:22.80 is now the fifth-best in program history, taking nearly a full second off the previous season best. Its time is currently fifth in the world.
After qualifying for Saturday’s final with a strong time Friday, the 4×400 relay team of Ryan Bermudez, Jussi Kanervo, Eric Winfrey and Clayton Gravesande were even better in the weekend finale. The quartet took almost a full second off its qualifying time, running a 3:07.29 to finish second overall, behind only the Brazilian Olympic `B’ team.
Though the women’s team would only compete in three events total on Saturday, it made them count with season-best times in all three. The 4×800 relay team would be the highlight, running the fifth-fastest race in program history. The combination of Maya Evans, Emily Harding, Martha McCoy and Ashley Miller ran an 8:57.85 race, 15 seconds better than the team’s previous best this season.
Serving as captains this weekend will be Kevin Keating and Jermaine Collier for the men, and Chalese Davis and Jeannelle Scheper for the women. Collier is a junior from Trenton, N.J. and will compete in the 110- and 400-meter hurdles. Keating is a senior from Hamilton, Ohio and will compete in the 800-meter. Davis is a senior from Hercules, Calif., competing in the 100- and 400-meter hurdles, high jump and long jump, and Scheper is a senior from Saint Lucia, looking for her fourth-straight win in the high jump.
