March 19, 2016
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – The South Carolina track and field team capped its weekend at the Shamrock Invitational Saturday with some hardware, as both the men and women claimed the Mayor’s Relay Cup to wrap up the meet. The honor was just one of the team’s many highlights on the final day of competition.
The Mayor’s Relay Cup factors in the four relays from the weekend — the 4×100, 4×200, 4×400 and 4×800 — and scores the races for every participating team. The Gamecocks ran away with the win, with the women beating second-place Clemson 36-23 and the men beating second-place North Carolina A&T 32-21.
The clinching race for the crown came in the final event of the weekend, when the men and women swept the 4x4s. For the men, Ryan Bermudez, Jussi Kanervo, Greg Chiles and Jermaine Collier ran a 3:09.72 to edge out Clemson by .21 seconds. On the women’s side, it was a convincing two-second margin for the team of Aliyah Abrams, Marisa Bellamy, Precious Holmes and Tyler Brocking, who beat out Clemson with a time of 3:36.68.
The winning wasn’t just limited to the track, as Josh Awotunde opened his outdoor season Saturday with a win in the discus and a second-place finish in the shot put that saw him set a major personal best. In the discus, he cleared the rest of the field by more than eight feet, hitting his top mark of 184-6 on his final throw. In the shot, he came second but blew up his personal record book with a mark of 61-11 ¾. It added a foot to his best collegiate mark, and it moved him all the way up to fourth in school history.
Also in the field events, Ty Williams capped a great weekend with a second-place finish in the high jump. He broke his outdoor PR with a vault of 6-10 ¾, a day after setting a personal best in the long jump at 24-0 ¾. Michael Wamer also was a runner-up, taking second in the triple jump with a top mark of 50-0 ¾.
In the individual track events Saturday, the Gamecocks enjoyed 10 top-three finishers between the men (four) and women (six). The hurdles would be a strong discipline for both programs, with the women getting second in the 100 (Chalese Davis) and 400 (Tyler Brockington) finals and the men taking third in the 110 (Jermaine Collier) and second in the 400 (Jussi Kanervo).
UP NEXT
The team will continue outdoor next weekend, March 25-26, at the Yellow Jacket Invite. The two-day meet is hosted by Georgia Tech.
NOTABLE
- Tyler Brockington and Precious Holmes returned to the track this weekend after missing the entire 2015 outdoor season and the 2016 indoor season.
- Josh Awotunde’s shot put PR of 61-11 ¾ is the program’s best mark in the event since 2009, when Jason Cook threw 63-7 ½.
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QUOTABLE: HEAD COACH Curtis Frye
Recapping the Weekend
“It was a good weekend, the weather was great, the kids were competing tough and got some things done. We have a chance to be a pretty good track team. The indoor season ended at the end of February, so our kids were excited to get back out there, but some of the kids who were at nationals were a little fatigued but sucked it up and competed.”On the Return of Holmes and Brockington
“They were nervous, but it was good to get that first run under their belts. Tyler is coming off a tough injury so she was nervous going out there but she had a great meet, yesterday leading off the 4×2 and today leading off the 4×1 relays before coming back in the intermediate hurdles and then running the anchor leg of our quarter-mile relay. Precious came back and opened up at 55.2 which is not that fast, but we think she’s going to be just fine. In a month’s time we’ll get her back to the old Precious.”On Josh Awotunde’s Performance
“He’s trying to get to the point where 19 meters is his average day, and to get to 20 meters pretty soon. We’re excited he got a W in the discus, getting those wins is important to send a message to people that he’s a serious contender to be a NCAA all-american.”March 19, 2016 • Shamrock Invitational • Men’s Results • 100m – Final 5. DeVon Lewis 10.90 (-0.8) 200m – Seeded 2. Ryan Bermudez 21.27 (1.4) 400m — Seeded 7. Ryan Bermudez 47.98 31. Darryl Dunham 50.49 –. Ty Jaye Robbins DNF 800m — Seeded 3. Otis Jones 1:51.66 10. Drew Galang 1:55.78 22. David Yang 1:57.54 29. Michael Elwood 2:08.58 Mile — Seeded 9. Alex Sullivan 4:22.08 23. David Parker 4:34.07 110m Hurdles – Final 3. Jermaine Collier 14.12 (0.4) 400m Hurdles — Seeded 2. Jussi Kanervo 50.58 10. Greg Chiles 53.83 4x100m Relay 3. Titi, Winters, Bermudez, Collier 40.36 8. Thomas, Lewis, Chiles, Moore 41.25 4x400m Relay 1. Bermudez, Kanervo, Chiles, Collier 3:09.72 8. Thomas, Jones, Moore, Elwood 3:19.03 16. Yang, Dunham, Galang, Sullivan 3:27.32 Discus 1. Josh Awotunde 56.25m | 184-6 Shot Put 2. Josh Awotunde 18.89m | 61-11 ¾ High Jump 2. Tye Williams 2.10m | 6-10 ¾ Triple Jump 2. Michael Wamer 15.26m | 50-0 ¾ Pole Vault – Open 1. Chris Cochran 4.30m | 14-1 ½ –. Nick Couchell NH –. Richard Fish NH March 19, 2016 • Shamrock Invitational • Women’s Results • 100m – Final 3. Gabby Gray 11.94 (0.2) 200m – Seeded 2. Briana Haith 23.65 (1.3) 3. Aliyah Abrams 23.92 (1.3) 13. Gabby Gray 24.58 (1.8) 400m — Seeded 4. Marisa Bellamy 54.61 8. Precious Holmes 55.35 9. Maiya Dendy 55.51 42. Irene Vian 1:01.21 800m — Seeded 13. Allie Mueller 2:16.16 Mile — Seeded 13. Alexis Malmberg 5:13.09 28. Anna McElrath 5:28.93 32. Caitlin Potter 5:38.02 –. Ashley Miller DNF 3000m 3. Mary Reiser 9:57.94 4. Christine Kent 10:02.60 9. Monica York 10:14.11 13. Allie Sprague 10:29.53 100m Hurdles – Final 2. Chalese Davis 13.74 (0.8) 4. Taranisha Taylor 14.02 (0.8) 5. Funlayo Oluwole 14.22 (0.8) 400m Hurdles — Seeded 2. Tyler Brockington 58.14 5. Morgan Hubbard 1:01.02 4x100m Relay 2. Brockington, Haith, Abrams, Gray 44.93 4. Taylor, Murphy, Oluwole, Dendy 45.97 4x400m Relay 1. Abrams, Bellamy, Holmes, Brockington 3:36.68 7. Dendy, Hubbard, Taylor, Mueller 3:49.10 Javelin 4. Shelby Freedman 45.76m | 150-1 5. Amy Suttmeier 43.78m | 143-8 Triple Jump 18. Funlayo Oluwole 11.47m | 37-7 ¾
