March 9, 2017
LIVE SCORING // START LISTS // STARTING LINEUP // WOMEN’S ENTRIES // MEN’S ENTRIES // 2017 GAMECOCK ROSTER // 2017 GAMECOCK SCHEDULE
Dates: March 10-11, 2017
Friday’s Start Time: 6:15 p.m. ET
Saturday’s Start Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
Friday’s WatchESPN Coverage: 6:25 p.m. ET
Saturday’s WatchESPN Coverage: 4:55 p.m. ET
Location: College Station, Texas
Venue: Gilliam Indoor Stadium
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina Track & Field team wraps up the indoor season this weekend at the 2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Championships. The season-ending national championship meet runs Friday and Saturday at the Gilliam Indoor Stadium in College Station, Texas. Texas A&M serves as host.
Head Coach Curtis Frye will send four individuals and one relay team to College Station in search of national titles. On the men’s side, Josh Awotunde will represent the Gamecocks in the shot put, and Ncincilili Titi will run the 200m. For the women, Natasha Dicks will make her second NCAA Indoor Championships appearance in the triple jump, and Rougui Sow makes her NCAA debut in the long jump. The Gamecocks will also field a women’s 4x400m relay team, slated to consist of Aliyah Abrams, Tyler Brockington, Briana Haith and Precious Holmes. Maiya Dendy and Marisa Bellamy are listed as alternates.
Sow is the first Gamecock to compete, beginning at 7:10 p.m. CT on Friday night, and Awotunde’s event starts 10 minutes later. Titi will run the prelims of the 200m at 7:55 p.m. CT on Friday. Dicks is in action Saturday beginning at 3:30 p.m. CT. Finals of the men’s 200m are scheduled for Saturday at 5:50 p.m. CT, and the women’s mile relay takes the track Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. CT.
WATCH THE GAMECOCKS LIVE ON WATCHESPN
WatchESPN will have full coverage from College Station throughout the weekend. Live streaming begins at 6:25 p.m. ET on Friday and 4:55 p.m. ET Saturday.
GAMECOCK HISTORY AT THE NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The South Carolina women own 10 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Indoor Championships, finishing as high as second place in 2000, 2001 and 2003. Fifteen different Gamecocks have combined to capture 14 NCAA indoor national titles, including four victories in the 4x400m relay. Demetria Washington leads the Gamecock program with three indoor NCAA crowns, winning the 400m dash in 2001 and the 4x400m relay in 2001 and 2002. Carolina’s most recent national titles came in 2009 and 2011, when Lakya Brookins won the 60m dash.
On the men’s side, the Gamecocks have finished in the top-10 nine times at the NCAA Indoor Championships. Carolina’s best finish came in 1974, when the squad finished third, and in both 1999 and 2003 the Gamecocks finished fourth. South Carolina has won eight NCAA indoor titles, with Terrence Trammell winning the 60m hurdles in 1999 and both the 60m dash and 60m hurdles in 2000. Brad Snyder garnered the shot put national title in 1998 and 1999, and the most recent NCAA indoor victory came in 2002 when Otukile Lekote was the national 800m champion.
LAST SEASON AT THE NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
South Carolina tied for 33rd on the women’s side and 51st on the men’s side last season at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships. Natasha Dicks led the way, finishing third in the women’s triple jump. Dicks set a school record at the event with an effort of 43-9 3/4. Briana Haith also competed for the Carolina women, coming in 13th in the 400m.
For the men, Dondre Echols qualified eighth and placed sixth in the 60mH finals, with a mark of 7.88 in the championship race. That was the best individual result for a Gamecock men’s team member since 2010. Two Gamecocks ran in the 200m last season at the NCAA indoor meet. Ncincilili Titi finished 12th and David Winters came in 13th.
Josh Awotunde — JR — SHOT PUT — FRANKLINVILLE, N.J.
Awotunde enters the NCAA championships ranked 11th nationally with a shot put mark of 63-0 ¾. The junior set the mark Jan. 21 at the Vanderbilt Invitational, when he was the top collegiate finisher. He won the season-opening Clemson Invitational and finished with four total podium results. Last week at the SEC Championships, Awotunde finished seventh with a mark of 60-2.
This will be Awotunde’s first appearance at the NCAA Indoor Championships; he finished seventh last season to earn All-America accolades at the outdoor championships.
Natasha Dicks — SR — TRIPLE JUMP — AIKEN, S.C.
Dicks is ranked 16th in the triple jump, with a mark of 43-5 ¼. She set the mark in a winning performance Feb. 17 at the Tiger Tuneup and equaled the effort last week when she finished ninth at the SEC Championships. The Aiken, S.C., native finished on the podium in every regular-season meet this year, and in addition to her victory at the Tiger Tuneup she was also triumphant at the Armory Invitational on Feb. 4.
Last season, Dicks finished third at the NCAA Indoor meet with a school-record mark of 43-9 3/4 and added a sixth-place result in the 2016 outdoor championships.
Rougui Sow — JR — LONG JUMP — LE HAVRE, FRANCE
Sow enters the NCAA Indoor Championships ranked 12th in the nation in the long jump, at a mark of 20-11 ¼. She set the mark, which ranks third in school history, at the Tiger Tuneup, and she posted the exact same mark in a fifth-place result at the SEC Championships. In her first season with the Gamecocks, Sow has leapt over 20 feet in five of her six appearances.
This will be Sow’s first appearance at indoor nationals
Ncincilili Titi — JR — 200m — BUTTERWORTH, SOUTH AFRICA
Titi holds the 10th-fastest time in the nation in the 200m after running a time of 20.67 at the Tiger Paw Invitational on Feb. 10. That mark ranks third in school history. The junior won the 200m at the Clemson, Vanderbilt and Armory Invitational events and added two podium finishes in the 60m.
Last season, Titi finished 12th in the 200m at NCAA indoors and added a 16th-place result outdoors. He also qualified for the indoor meet in 2015 and finished ninth.
WOMEN’S 4x400m RELAY
South Carolina sprints into the NCAA Championships with the nation’s 13th-best mile relay time after Aliyah Abrams, Precious Holmes, Tyler Brockington and Briana Haith stopped the clock in 3:32.77 at the Razorback Invitational on Jan. 28. Abrams, Brockington and Holmes were part of the 4×4 relay team that took third last season at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.
The women’s 4×4 relay has long been one of the centerpieces of the program, as the Gamecocks won the NCAA Indoor national title in 2001, 2002, 2005 and 2007. Carolina also won the outdoor national championship in the event in 2000, and in 2002 it helped the Gamecocks win the overall team title.
UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS
Following the NCAA Indoor Championships, South Carolina immediately begins its outdoor season. The Gamecocks will take part in the Hurricane Invitational, to be held March 17-18 in Coral Gables, Fla.
