May 26, 2018
2018 NCAA East Regional — Day #3
TAMPA, Fla. – The University of South Carolina track & field team punched four more tickets to Eugene Saturday on the final day of the 2018 NCAA East Regional Preliminary Round. Josh Awotunde and Ncincilili Titi earned individual berths to the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and Carolina also earned NCAA bids in the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays.
Overall, Carolina will send six individual entries and two relays to the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships, to be contested June 6-9 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
The Gamecocks opened the day in the first heat of the women’s 4x100m relay. Maiya Dendy, Stephanie Davis, Milan Parks and Makyla Stanley posted a season-best time of 44.02, but they finished fourth in the heat and had to wait for the final two flights to learn their fate.
In the end, the first heat was by far the fastest of the three, as Carolina qualified through with the best non-automatic time of the day. It will be the third-consecutive season the Gamecocks have run the women’s 4×1 at nationals; they finished 14th last season and won the NCAA title in the event in 2002.
Titi stepped on to the track Saturday looking to qualify for his seventh career NCAA Championships event and his third outdoor meet. Despite rainy conditions, the senior was undaunted, as he dominated the second heat of the day for an automatic berth to Eugene. His time of 20.27 ranked second-best among all competitors Saturday.
Titi heads into Eugene as a seven-time All-American, including two first-team honors indoors. He finished 16th in the 200m at the NCAA outdoor meet in 2016 and 11th last season.
The Carolina 4×4 relay squad saved their best run of the season for the regional meet. Davis, Aliyah Abrams, Tatyana Mills and Precious Holmes posted a mark of 3:33.22, bettering their seed time by more than four seconds. That was the fourth-best time of Carolina’s heat but by far the fastest non-automatic time of the day, sending Carolina through to Eugene.
Carolina will field a women’s mile relay in Eugene for the first time since 2016, when the Gamecocks earned a bronze medal with Abrams running leadoff and Holmes on the anchor leg. The Gamecocks have a storied history in the event, including outdoor national championships in 2000 and 2002 along with four indoor NCAA titles.
Awotunde capped Carolina’s week in Tampa with a winning performance in the shot put. The senior clinched his trip to Oregon with his first attempt, checking in at 19.54m (64-1 ¼), but the 2018 SEC Indoor Champion wasn’t satisfied. Awotunde brought the thunder with his final throw, topping the leaderboard with a toss of 20.54m (67-4 ¾). Already the school record-holder, Awotunde left Tampa with the third-best outdoor throw of his Gamecock career.
The Franklinville, N.J., native has now qualified for the NCAA Outdoor Championships three straight years, including a first-team All-America finish in 2016. He also earned a bronze medal in March at the 2018 NCAA Indoor Championships.
Counting today’s qualifiers, the Gamecocks will send eight entries to the NCAA Outdoor Championships. Lissa Labiche (high jump), Yann Randrianasolo (long jump) and Rougui Sow (long jump) earned nationals bids on Thursday, and Abrams (400m) punched her individual ticket Friday.
FROM THE COACH
“Titi’s maturity in managing this meet was outstanding. Yesterday he had to struggle a little bit, because he had a tight lane here in lane three, but he saved his energy at the end. Today, that win put him in a great seed. He understands how to advance, and that’s what you learn: it’s all about advancing and using the least amount of energy possible. Coach (Kevin) Brown gave him instructions to really hit it off the turn. He stayed relaxed and ran a tremendous race.”
“Josh managed the meet also. He got his first throw without a lot of effort. He understands what it takes — get your energy and make your last one your best one. He set it up and put himself in position. He listened to the coaching and got squared up in the middle on the last throw. It looked like he just barely hit it, but he punched it out there at 67-4. It was an impressive effort by a mature contender.”
“With the years that our coaching staff has been together, we understand how to prepare to move the kids to that status, getting kids to the nationals to become All-Americans. We don’t have a big number of athletes, but we have quality kids that listen to us. They’re very good students, and we set things up… we could have used Aliyah at the SEC meet, but that might have jeopardized things for the national meet. The good decisions by our staff to determine to put Aliyah out there led to her running a 50-point split on the mile relay. It was tremendous.”- Head Coach Curtis Frye
UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS
The Gamecocks now turn their attention to the grand finale of the 2018 season, the 2018 NCAA Outdoor Championships. National titles are on the line June 6-9 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.
| SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2018 • 2018 NCAA EAST REGIONAL • MEN’S RESULTS | ||
| Shot Put (Top 12 Advance to Nationals) | ||
| 1. Josh Awotunde | 20.54m | 67-4 3/4 | |
| 25. Eric Favors | 18.11m | 59-5 | |
| 200m Quarterfinals (Top 12 Advance to Nationals) | ||
| 2. Ncincilili Titi | 20.27Q | |
| SATURDAY, MAY 26, 2018 • 2018 NCAA EAST REGIONAL • WOMEN’S RESULTS | ||
| Triple Jump (Top 12 Advance to Nationals) | ||
| 14. Hanifah Abdulqadir | 12.85m | 42-2 | |
| 4x100m Relay (Top 12 Advance to Nationals) | ||
| 8. Dendy, Davis, Parks, Stanley | 44.02q | |
| 100mH Quarterfinals (Top 12 Advance to Nationals) | ||
| 13. Caitlyn Little | 13.43 | |
| 4x400m Relay (Top 12 Advance to Nationals) | ||
| 7. Davis, Abrams, Mills, Holmes | 3:33.22q | |
