Jan. 21, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Major bragging right will be on the line this weekend, as 15 top Division I programs will compete at the Conference Clash. The meet, co-hosted by Auburn and Tennessee, will pit eight SEC schools against select teams from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12. It all kicks off Friday afternoon, and runs through Saturday.

The event will be scored as a dual meet, with the SEC counted as one team and the seven “Power Five” schools will combine as the other. Up to two individuals can score from each team in every event, with the top five individuals and top three relay teams earning points.

Carolina aims to stay locked in after a promising performance last weekend at the Texas A&M Team Invitational. The women won three individual events and finished fourth of 11 teams, and the men finished fifth in a field that featured four other top-20 schools. One of the winners on the day was freshman Aliyah Abrams, who ran the quarter mile in 53.21. Not only does it ranks second in the nation for the indoor season so far, but earned her SEC Freshman of the Week honors as well.

Now through two weekends of action 17 Gamecocks rank in the top 10 of their events among SEC opponents. On the national level, 13 men and eight women are in the top 50 in Division I and five are in the top 10.

Field events kick things off Friday starting at 3 p.m. ET, and the meet wraps up Saturday starting at noon. Stay tuned to the team’s Twitter account for updates throughout the weekend.