FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Junior Quincy Hall captured the men’s 400m title Saturday as the University of South Carolina track & field team finished the weekend at the 2019 SEC Indoor Championships. Hall ran 45.69 to set a new indoor school record and collect his first-career SEC crown, and he provided one of seven scoring efforts for the Gamecocks Saturday at the Randal Tyson Track Center.

Hall wasn’t alone reaching the medal stand on Saturday, as the Carolina women’s 4x400m relay won a silver medal and senior 60m hurdler Isaiah Moore earned a bronze. Jordan Fields (women’s high jump), Lissa Labiche (women’s high jump), Otis Jones (men’s 800m) and Benjamin Womble (men’s heptathlon) also scored crucial points on the final day of the meet.

In the team standings, Carolina finished 10th on the men’s side with 29 points and 12th on the women’s side with 14 points. Florida claimed the men’s title, while Arkansas won the women’s battle.

Hall was the fastest 400m qualifier on Friday, and he led the final wire-to-wire on Saturday to claim his first-career SEC title. He broke the Carolina indoor 400m school record for the third time this season, running 45.69 for the victory. His time is the ninth-fastest in the world this season.

Hall’s SEC title is the second in as many seasons for the Carolina men’s program, following Josh Awotunde’s indoor shot put victory last season. He’s the first Gamecock in history to win a men’s indoor 400m SEC title and the first Carolina student-athlete to win an SEC title on the indoor track since Jason Richardson took the 60m hurdles crown in 2009.

“I knew if I could get to the break, I could control the race, slow the race down and actually run my race,” Hall said after the victory. “It feels great to add to (the Carolina legacy), and there’s more to come. I can see Coach [Curtis] Frye and Coach [Kevin] Brown building champions, and I’m not the only one.”

The Gamecock quartet of Stephanie Davis, Aliyah Abrams, Tatyana Mills and Wadeline Jonathas was neck-and-neck with Texas A&M throughout the final heat of the women’s 4x400m relay before coming in second to the Aggies, whose time of 3:29.15 just edged out Carolina’s 3:29.56. Those are the two fastest times in the NCAA this season, and for Carolina, it’s the third-best mark in school history. The two sides will rematch at the NCAA Indoor Championships on May 9 in Birmingham, Ala.

Moore earned his second-career SEC bronze medal with a third-place finish in the men’s 60m hurdles. The senior closed strong over the final two hurdles and turned in a time of 7.77 to earn a podium spot by .01 seconds. With the bronze, he earned six valuable points for the Gamecocks.

Carolina’s first points of the day came in the women’s high jump, where Fields and Labiche both cleared 1.72m (5-7 ¾). That put the Gamecock duo in the six-way tie for sixth place, and they each scored one point.

Jones finished his indoor campaign with a time of 1:54.88 to grab eighth place in the 800m and collect one point for the Carolina tally. The senior now turns his attention outdoors, where he’s a three-time NCAA Regionals qualifier and the SEC bronze medalist from 2018.

Womble’s first SEC Championships heptathlon was a rousing success, as he put together a scoring effort and finished in eighth place overall. The sophomore notched three personal bests Friday and followed that up with new high watermarks in the pole vault (4.04m) and 1000m (3:01.61) Saturday. His overall score, 4,154, is also a personal record.

In addition to Saturday’s scorers, Carolina got top-eight efforts from Yann Randrianasolo (men’s long jump), Eric Favors (men’s shot put), Armand Woodley (men’s pole vault) and the women’s distance medley team of Allie Mueller, Mills, Macie Kavanaugh and Anna Kathryn Stoddard on Friday. Mills accomplished the rare feat of scoring in both the DMR and the 4x400m relay in the same meet.

Mueller ran the 3000m Saturday, and her time of 9:54.13 ranks fifth in Carolina history.

FROM THE COACH