March 23, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina track & field program embarks on a new era this weekend when it hosts the inaugural meet at the brand-new, world-class Sheila and Morris Cregger Track. The Weems Baskin Invitational will be held Friday and Saturday, March 24-25, with action beginning at 9 a.m. each day.

The Gamecocks have a loaded field set to join them at the historic event. Joining Carolina this weekend at Cregger Track are student-athletes from Appalachian State, Ashland, Alabama State, Allen, Anderson, Benedict, Charleston Southern, Claflin, Coastal Carolina, Coker, College of Charleston, Columbia College, Columbia International, Coppin State, East Tennessee State, Illinois, Marian, Monroe, Morgan State, Morris, North Greenville, Paine, St. Andrew’s, St. Augustine’s, Savannah State, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee State, The Citadel, UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, VMI and Virginia Tech.

FAN INFORMATION

Fans can witness the historic Weems Baskin Invitational throughout the weekend, with one-day passes available for $5 and weekend passes available for $8. A complete breakdown of the Cregger Track fan experience, including parking details, can be found here.

QUOTING HEAD COACH Curtis Frye

WEEMS BASKIN INVITATIONAL HISTORY

This weekend’s event is the 22nd edition of the Weems Baskin Invitational and the first since 2014. The Gamecocks dominated the last edition of the Weems Baskin Invitational, winning 19 different individual events. Among current Gamecocks, Tyler Brockington (400mH), Natasha Dicks (triple jump), Briana Haith (400m) and Jussi Kanervo (110mH and 400mH) were all winners at the 2014 Weems Baskin.

The meet is named after legendary South Carolina head coach Weems Baskin, who led the Gamecock program from 1949-1969. After his death in 1993, the All-Comers Meet was renamed in his honor, the Weems Baskin Memorial Meet.

During his brilliant coaching career at South Carolina from 1949 to 1969, Baskin won 90 dual meets and lost 47. He later held the position of administrative assistant to the athletic director before retiring in 1972.

The only breaks in his coaching career that began in 1930 were during World War II when Baskin served as a Naval officer, in 1946 and 1947 when he served as a businessman in Athens, Ga., and 1951 when South Carolina did not field a team due to the Korean War.

Originally from Carrollton, Ga., Baskin was a four-sport athlete at Carrollton High School. He enrolled at Auburn in 1923 and by his senior year was playing tight end on the football team and winning the national championship in the 110-meter high hurdles. Baskin also ran the low hurdles and competed in the shot put, discus, javelin and high jump. He won the Southern Conference title three straight years in the high hurdles and was a national AAU indoor champion in 1928.

After receiving a degree in education, Baskin ran for the New York Athletic Club for two winters and wrote for various publications. He began his coaching career as an assistant football coach at Auburn in 1930 and assisted with the track team. He went to Georgia in 1931 to become the head track coach while serving as an assistant to football. Baskin served in the same capacity at Mississippi from 1938 to 1943 before joining the Naval Reserve during WWII.

Baskin, a former president of the National Track and Field Coaches Association and chairman of the NCAA Track and Field Rules Committee, is a member of the Helms Foundation Track and Field Hall of Fame. He also was elected to the South Carolina and Georgia Track and Field Halls of Fame.

LAST WEEK — GAMECOCKS WIN 10 EVENTS AT HURRICANE INVITATIONAL

South Carolina opened the outdoor season March 17-18 by dominating the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. Clarence Gallop (hammer throw) and Simon Gyllensten (pole vault) were victorious on Friday, while Maddie Beaubien (800m), Ben Bonhurst (shot put), Precious Holmes (400m), Jussi Kanervo (800m), Isaiah Moore (110mH), Alycia Springs (shot put) and David Winters (100m) took individual events on Saturday. Also, the Gamecocks were victorious in the women’s 4x100m relay, with Rougui Sow, Tyler Brockington, Taranisha Taylor and Maiya Dendy racing to the win.

Overall, the Gamecocks set 21 new collegiate personal bests at the meet. Bonhurst was perhaps the top performer, with his mark of 61-3 leading the NCAA East Region through one week and ranking fifth in Carolina shot put history.

GAMECOCK INDIVIDUALS IN THE NCAA EAST REGION RANKINGS

The Gamecocks feature 11 individuals and two relay teams in the NCAA East Region top-20 after one meet of the outdoor season. Overall, Carolina is ranked 22nd on the women’s side and 25th on the men’s side in the USTFCCCA preseason national poll.
• Isaiah Moore tops the region in the 110mH, after clocking a time of 13.91 in Miami. That’s the fourth-fastest time in the nation.
• Ben Bonhurst leads the NCAA East Region with his shot put effort of 61-3. That mark ranks sixth nationally.
• Clarence Gallop holds the second-best hammer throw mark, 213-3, which checks in seventh in the NCAA nationally.
• Nakita Gray is listed third in the region in the high jump, with a mark of 5-8 ¾. The senior is listed ninth in the nation.
• David Winters holds a 100m time of 10.36, third in the region and eighth in the nation.
• Precious Holmes posted a time of 54.07 in Miami to rank fifth in the East.
• Carolina’s 4x100m quartet of Winters, Ncincilili Titi, Darrell Singleton and Ryan Bermudez hold the sixth-best time in the region on the men’s side, at 40.37.
• The Gamecock women’s quartet of Rougui Sow, Tyler Brockington, Taranisha Taylor and Maiya Dendy ran a time of 45.68 at the Hurricane Invitational to rank eighth in the region in the 4×1.
• Singleton ranks eighth in the 100m, at 10:53. That time is the fastest this season by an SEC freshman.
• Bermudez is listed eighth individually in the 400m, at 47.17.
• Kara Lyles ran a 400mH time of 1:00.36 to hold the East’s ninth-best mark.
• Maddie Beaubien holds the 16th-fastest 800m time on the women’s side, 2:12.92.
• With a shot put effort of 47-2 ½, Alycia Springs is listed 17th in the shot put.

EIGHT GAMECOCKS EARN ALL-AMERICA STATUS AT NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

South Carolina is coming off of a highly successful week at the 2017 NCAA Indoor Championships, held in College Station, Texas. Gamecocks Josh Awotunde (shot put), Natasha Dicks (triple jump), Rougui Sow (long jump) and Ncincilili Titi (200m) each finished as First Team All-Americans, while the women’s 4x400m relay team grabbed Second Team laurels.

Dicks finished third in the triple jump, her second consecutive podium finish at the NCAA indoor meet. The senior jumped 44-2 ½ on her second attempt, breaking her own school record from last season’s NCAA Championships.

Awotunde placed fifth in the shot put after spending much of the competition outside of the points. The junior stood in 11th place with one prelims throw left, but he moved into the finals with an effort of 63-0. On his last attempt, the Franklinville, N.J., product vaulted into fifth with a PR of 64-6, second-best in Carolina history.

Sow was also in 11th with one preliminary effort left, and she made the finals with a jump of 20-10. Three jumps later, the Le Havre, France, native moved up to sixth with a PR mark of 21-2 ½, third in school history.

In his fourth appearance at an NCAA championship event, Titi qualified for finals for the first time. His prelims run of 20.79 was sixth-best, and in the finals he finished eighth at 21.03.

Precious Holmes, Tyler Brockington, Aliyah Abrams and Briana Haith took ninth in the women’s 4x400m relay. The quartet turned in a season-best time of 3:32.14.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS

The Gamecocks return a slew of All-Americans from a very successful 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships. On the women’s side, Tyler Brockington (400m Hurdles, 4x400m), Precious Holmes (4x400m), Aliyah Abrams (400m, 4x400m), Natasha Dicks (Triple Jump) and Shelby Freedman (Javelin) were honored at outdoor nationals last season. For the men, Jussi Kanervo (400m Hurdles) and Josh Awotunde (Shot Put) grabbed outdoor laurels a season ago.

THE COACH FRYE FILE

• The 2017 season is head coach Curtis Frye’s 21st season in charge of the Gamecock program.
• One of the most well-respected coaches in the country, Frye brought South Carolina its first team NCAA championship in any sport when his women’s team captured the 2002 NCAA Outdoor Championship crown.
• In 2008, Frye was bestowed the Order of Ikkos Medallion, presented by the United States Olympic Committee.
• During his tenure, Frye has coached over 60 NCAA champions, 117 SEC champions, 15 Academic All-Americans and more than 460 NCAA All-Americans.
• Following the 2016 collegiate season, Frye served as an assistant coach for the United States national team at the 2016 Rio Olympics. With Frye as one of their leaders, Team USA earned 32 track & field medals in Rio, including 13 gold medals.
• Frye is a three-time SEC Coach of the Year with the honor coinciding with his three women’s outdoor conference championships in 1999, 2002 and 2005.

MEET THE COACHES

• Delethea Quarles is in her 20th year with the South Carolina program and her 27th year as a collegiate coach entering the 2017 season. Promoted to assistant head coach in 2005, her primary responsibilities include coaching the multi-event performers and jumps. Quarles has extensive international experience, none more impressive than her 2015 post as the head women’s coach for Team USA at the IAAF World Championships in Beijing, China.
• Kevin Brown enters the eighth year of his second stint with the Gamecocks in the 2017 season. His primary responsibility is working with the pole vaulters in addition to working with South Carolina’s well-respected relay teams and sprinters. Brown is also the program’s recruiting coordinator. In the summer of 2016, Brown served on the Team USA coaching staff at the NACAC U23 Championships in El Salvador.
• Mike Sergent enters his 20th season with the Gamecock track and field program in 2017. His primary responsibilities are coaching the throwers and coordinating the strength and conditioning program. Sergent has coached 28 All-Americans, 45 NCAA qualifiers, 14 SEC champions and five NCAA champions at South Carolina.
• A 30-year veteran of distance coaching, Andrew Allden serves as the assistant track coach for distance and cross country. Allden has extensive international experience; in 2004, he served as a men’s assistant coach for distance in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Hungary. He was the practice track director for distance at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and spent the 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons with the USOC as an endurance team coach.
• Hadrien Choukroun joined the full-time staff as an assistant coach for sprints and hurdles for the 2016 season and enters his second full-time year in 2017. Choukroun has been with the program since 2013, and spent 2015 as a graduate assistant. In his time with the program, Carolina has crowned 24 All-Americans (13 men, 11 women) in the sprint and hurdle events.

HASTINGS’ GOLD HIGHLIGHTS CAROLINA’S IMPACT AT RIO OLYMPICS

Five members of the South Carolina track & field program represented the Gamecocks and their native countries at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Leading the charge was Natasha Hastings, who won her second Olympic gold medal as part of the 4x400m relay. Hastings ran the second leg of the 4×400 final, with the United States posting a time of 3:19.06 to narrowly defeat Jamaica’s 3:20.34. The Olympic medal was the 14th earned by a Gamecock in the program’s track & field history. Hastings nearly won an individual medal, finishing fourth in the 400m dash.

Head coach Curtis Frye served as an assistant coach for Team USA, helping the Americans earn 32 medals in Rio, including 13 gold medals. Three other Gamecocks competed in Rio: current student-athlete Aliyah Abrams (Guyana) placed 38th in the 400m dash, graduate assistant Jeannelle Scheper (Saint Lucia) finished 25th in the high jump and alumna Kierre Beckles (Barbados) came in 24th in the 100m hurdles.

GAMECOCKS TO HOST SEC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIP

South Carolina is proud to host the 2017 SEC Outdoor Championship at the brand new Morris and Sheila Cregger Track. The event runs May 11-13, and tickets go on sale soon. In addition to hosting the meet, the Gamecocks will hold several alumni events throughout the week. Gamecock alumni wishing to participate should contact associate head coach Delethea Quarles at DQUARLES@mailbox.sc.edu or (803) 777-1617.

UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS

The Gamecocks compete at the Florida Relays next weekend in Gainesville, Fla. Carolina is in action March 30 — April 1 at one of the nation’s premier outdoor track & field events.