June 8, 2017

EUGENE, Ore. – Sophomore Rougui Sow paced the University of South Carolina track & field team as the Gamecocks competed on day two of the 2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships Thursday at Hayward Field. Sow earned first-team All-America honors in the long jump, while the women’s 4x100m relay finished the day as second-team All-Americans.

Sow finished the long jump in sixth place, with a mark of 21-2. Her second attempt, 21-0 ½, gave the Le Havre, France, native a spot in the finals, and her last attempt moved her into the top-six, matching the sophomore’s finish from the NCAA Indoor Championships in March.

The three points earned by Sow are the first points of the event for Carolina. The Gamecocks are in 26th position with one day left in the women’s team competition.

Sow is the second Gamecock to win two women’s All-America laurels in the long jump. She joins Antoinette Wilks, who was an outdoor All-American in 2002 and took indoor honors a year later. Her sixth-place finish matches Wilks in 2002 for the best result by a Carolina student-athlete in the long jump at the NCAA outdoor championship.

Carolina took sixth in its heat of the 4x100m relay, running a time of 44.65 that originally went down as 17th place. But upon further review, three teams ahead of the Gamecocks were disqualified, boosting the team into 14th position, and putting Milan Parks, Tyler Brockington, Taranisha Taylor and Maiya Dendy into second-team All-America position. Carolina has now earned four All-America honors as a team at this season’s NCAA outdoor meet, with Sow and the women’s 4×1 joining Wednesday honorees Ncincilili Titi and the men’s 4×1.

The race was the last for Brockington as a collegian, and it marked her 10th career All-America effort. The Greensboro, N.C., native ends her career as the 11th Gamecock women’s team member to earn 10 or more All-America accolades, and her SEC championship in the 400m hurdles will go down as one of the highlights of the 2017 season.

Though Thursday was primarily focused on the women’s meet, Carolina did have one men’s athlete in action. Markus Leemet entered the day occupying ninth in the decathlon, but he was unable to finish the event. The redshirt junior had 6,267 points before electing not to compete in the final event, the 1500m.

QUOTING HEAD COACH Curtis Frye

UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS

Two Gamecocks are competing for NCAA titles on Friday. Tye Williams enters the high jump competition as the top seed, and his event begins at 5:00 p.m. PT. On the track, Isaiah Moore runs for the 110mH national title at 6:12 p.m. PT. Gamecock fans can watch both events live on ESPN and the WatchESPN app.