COLUMBIA, S.C. — The outdoor season continues this weekend for the University of South Carolina track & field team as the Gamecocks remain in the Palmetto State for the Buccaneer Invitational, hosted by Charleston Southern. Four field events will be held Friday, March 22 beginning at 1 p.m. ET, while the vast majority of the meet will be contested Saturday, March 23 beginning at 11 a.m. ET.

The Gamecocks will face some fresh opponents when they arrive at Jim Settle Track on the CSU campus this weekend. Along with South Carolina and the host Buccaneers, the field includes The Citadel, Methodist, South Carolina State, Francis Marion and Maine.

QUOTABLES

“The big thing at this meet is bringing our national champion women back this week. They’re going to run the 200m. We’re trying to get them back and spark them. They got a week of heavy training last week, and they didn’t run in the meet. We’ve got to sharpen them up before the big meet in Florida. Expectations are high, and we can’t let them go in dull. People are going to come out to watch them. Our 4×4 is a big deal. We got a lot of media exposure off of that win. Our phones were ringing off the hooks after that win with kids who want to come join the Gamecocks.”– Head Coach Curtis Frye

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LAST TIME OUT • MARCH 15-16 • GAMECOCKS WIN MEET-HIGH 11 EVENTS AT BLACK AND GOLD CHALLENGE

South Carolina opened its outdoor campaign March 15-16 at the Black and Gold Challenge in Orlando, Fla. Despite fielding a limited group of entries, the Gamecocks led the meet with 11 event victories.

The Gamecocks notched three program top-10 marks in Orlando as part of their 11 victories. Anna Kathryn Stoddard won the women’s 1500m with a time of 4:34.23, the ninth-best mark in Carolina history, and long jump All-American Yann Randrianasolo competed in the men’s triple jump, where his mark of 15.61m ranks seventh on the records list. The women’s 4x800m crew of Allie Mueller, Maryah Nasir, Sierra Biber and Macie Kavanaugh laid down the eighth-best time in Carolina history, 9:04.39.

Additional victories in Orlando came from Otis Jones (men’s 800m), Lissa Labiche (women’s high jump), Isaiah Moore (men’s 100mH), Darrell Singleton Jr. (men’s 100m), Jeremiah Talbert (men’s 400m), Noah Walker (men’s 400mH), Armand Woodley (men’s pole vault) and the men’s 4x400m relay. Talbert’s win came in his first outdoor event as a collegian, and he was part of the winning 4×4 crew along with Walker.

MOORE TOPS NCAA LEADERBOARD AFTER SEASON’S FIRST WEEK

The opening week of the outdoor season featured a limited number of meets, but the Gamecocks took advantage to post some of the top marks in the country. Leading the way is redshirt senior Isaiah Moore. The two-time All-American leads the nation in the 110m hurdles, with a time of 13.67.

Two other Gamecocks rank in the top three in their events. Otis Jones is listed second in the 800m, at 1:50.65, and Yann Randrianasolo is listed third in the triple jump, at 15.61m.

Each member of the Gamecock roster is aiming to finish the season in the East Region top-48 of their event, which guarantees a spot at the NCAA East Regional Preliminary Round, May 23-25 in Jacksonville, Fla.

CAROLINA MEN OPEN OUTDOOR SEASON RANKED 25TH

The South Carolina men are listed 25th in the first USTFCCCA national rankings of the outdoor season. The rankings use a combination of marks attained in previous collegiate seasons and those achieved in the early stages of 2019.

Three Gamecocks hold preseason top-10 rankings on the men’s side. Quincy Hall is listed second in the 400m (44.60), Isaiah Moore is sixth in the 100mH (13.47) and Yann Randrianasolo is eighth in the long jump (7.99m).

The Gamecock women are ranked 74th to start the season. Leading the way is senior Hanifah Abdulqadir, whose triple jump mark of 13.30m is ranked 16th.

MARCH 8-9 • 4X400M CHAMPIONSHIP HIGHLIGHTS NCAA INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Gamecocks enter the outdoor season on the heels of the program’s best NCAA Indoor Championships in over a decade. The Carolina women finished tied for seventh, their first NCAA top-10 finish since 2007, while the Gamecock men tied for 20th, their best result at the national indoor meet since 2010.

The highlight of the meet was Carolina’s national championship in the women’s 4x400m relay. Stephanie Davis, Aliyah Abrams, Tatyana Mills and Wadeline Jonathas ran 3:30.76 to edge Texas A&M (3:30.85) and Arkansas (3:30.86) for the crown. It’s the 47th NCAA event championship in Gamecock history and the first since 2015. It’s also the program’s seventh women’s 4x400m relay NCAA title and the first since 2007.

The women’s mile relay was one of five first-team All-America finishes for the Gamecocks. Abrams placed second in the women’s 400m, and Quincy Hall took fourth in the men’s 400m then led the men’s mile relay to a fifth-place result. Isaiah Moore added an eighth-place finish in the men’s 60m hurdles.

Jonathas (women’s 400m) and Arinze Chance (men’s 400m) earned second-team All-America laurels while Yann Randrianasolo (men’s long jump) was an honorable mention finisher.

GAMECOCKS TAKE HOME THREE INDOOR ALL-SEC HONORS

South Carolina earned three All-SEC nods at the 2019 SEC Indoor Championships, held Feb. 22-23 in Fayetteville, Ark. Junior Quincy Hall collected first-team All-SEC honors by winning the individual men’s 400m championship. Hall set a school record in the final, running 45.69 to earn Carolina’s first SEC title on the indoor track since Jason Richardson took the 60m hurdles in 2009.

The Carolina women’s 4x400m relay squad and senior hurdler Isaiah Moore earned second-team All-SEC honors. The 4×4 quartet of Stephanie Davis, Aliyah Abrams, Tatyana Mills and Wadeline Jonathas won silver with a time of 3:29.56, second-fastest in the nation this season. Moore tallied his second-career SEC medal by winning bronze in the 60m hurdles.

Overall, Carolina finished 10th in the men’s competition and 12th on the women’s side.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS LOOKING FOR MORE OUTDOOR SUCCESS

The Gamecocks feature seven student-athletes with past outdoor All-America finishes. On the women’s side, Aliyah Abrams, Stephanie Davis, Maiya Dendy, Milan Parks and Makyla Stanley already own All-America honors from past seasons, with Abrams taking first-team status as part of Carolina’s 2016 bronze-medal winning 4x400m relay.

On the men’s side, Isaiah Moore and Yann Randrianasolo each return with outdoor All-America results under their belts. Moore was a first-team finisher in 2017 after taking eighth in the 100m hurdles.

The 2019 NCAA postseason begins May 23-25, as the top-48 qualifiers in individual events and the top-24 qualifiers in each relay compete at the NCAA East Regional Preliminary Round in Jacksonville, Fla. The top-12 finishers at each Regional go on to the 2019 NCAA Outdoor Championships, June 5-8 in Austin, Texas.

UP NEXT FOR THE GAMECOCKS

Carolina makes its annual trek to the Florida Relays next week. The three-day meet, one of the early tests of the outdoor season, will be held March 28-30 in Gainesville, Fla.