March 2, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field Championships announced the field for the meet Tuesday night, and five members of the South Carolina track and field program earned a bid. The Gamecocks will have three newcomers to nationals (Natasha Dicks, Ncincilili Titi, David Winters) and two who have already earned All-America status (Dondre Echols, Briana Haith). The meet will run March 11-12.

This season, the championships will be held in a familiar spot for the Gamecocks, who will head to the Crossplex in Birmingham, Ala. for the second time this season. In late January, the team competed in the Conference Clash at the Crossplex. The quintet is coming into the meet on a high note, after all five scored at the SEC Championships last weekend and Haith and Echols picked up bronze medals for their efforts.

Natasha Dicks || Junior || Journalism Major || Aiken, S.C.
Event: Triple Jump
– Making her first trip to nationals, indoor or outdoor
– Improved her mark over four consecutive weekends leading up to nationals, highlighted by her school-record-setting mark of 43-9 ¾ at the SEC Championships
– Ranks fourth in the country for the triple jump
– Also set a PR in the long jump this season, with a mark that put her ninth in school history (19-8 ¼)

Briana Haith || Junior || Public Health Major || Durham, N.C.
Event: 400m
– Earned first-team All-America status as a member of the 4x400m relay team at the 2014 indoor championships
– Ran the sixth-fastest 400 time in the country, 52.34 seconds, to win the bronze medal at the SEC Championships
– Moved up to ninth in school history in the 400
– Also ran on two of the top 25 4x400m relay teams in the country and ran the team’s fastest 200m time this season with a personal best of 23.65

Dondre Echols || Senior || Advertising Major || Oxon Hill, Md.
Event: 60m Hurdles
– Earned second-team All-America status in the 60m hurdles at last year’s indoor championships, when he finished 14th overall
– Ran the fourth-fastest time in the country this season, at 7.69 seconds
– Is coming off a bronze-medal performance at the SEC meet, where he ran 7.74 in the final
– His 7.69 personal best ranks seventh in school history and was the best mark by any Gamecock since 2010

Ncincilili Titi || Sophomore || Public Health Major || Butterworth, South Africa
Event: 200m
– Ran last summer for South Africa at the World University Games. After qualifying for the final, he ran a 20.68 to finish fourth overall and just nine hundredths of a second off a bronze medal. His time was tenth-fastest in school history for the outdoor 200 and the best of any Gamecock since 2010.
– He owns the fifth-fastest indoor 200 time in school history, a time of 20.87 set last season
– For this season his top time is 20.89, set at the Tyson Invitational
– He scored for the team at the SEC Championships, finishing eighth in the final

David Winters Jr. || Junior || Sociology Major || Capitol Heights, Md.
Event: 200m
– Joined the team as a junior college transfer last year, he earned JUCO All-American status with Barton County CC
– He ran 20.61 in the final at the SEC Championships, placing fifth overall with the second-fastest time in school history
– Also scored in the conference meet in the 60m dash, taking fifth. He ran the fifth-fastest 60 time in school history in the prelims (6.66)
– He ranks eighth in the country for the 200, and just barely missed qualifying for nationals in the 60 as well (22nd nationally in the dash)