Jan. 19, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s track student-athlete Aliyah Abrams was named the SEC’s Freshman of the Week Tuesday afternoon, giving the Gamecocks a weekly honoree in each of their first two weeks of competition. Abrams is also the first member of the team to earn indoor Freshman of the Week since Precious Holmes in February of 2014.

Abrams turned heads in her first-ever collegiate race, winning the 400m at the Texas A&M Team Invitational on Saturday. Her time of 53.21 put her just outside the program’s indoor 400 top ten list and puts her at the top of the SEC for this season. Nationally, her time ranks second overall, just .03 seconds behind Southern California’s Jaide Stepter.

To close out her meet, the Grayson, Ga. native ran the second leg on the team’s 4x400m relay. She posted a 53.22 split to help the team finish third overall, and the team’s time of 3:37.73 ranks sixth nationally.

The Gamecocks will have two more meets this week, starting with the USC Open #2 on Wednesday night with a number of Columbia-area teams expected to compete. The highlight will come this weekend, when Abrams and the Gamecocks will “team up” with seven other SEC schools as part of the Conference Clash. The Clash will begin Friday afternoon and run through Saturday. Live results links will be available later in the week through GamecocksOnline.com.