“We are so excited, really thrilled, for this meet this weekend where we’ll have some fantastic teams we’ve never had here before. I’m so proud of our student-athletes after everything they have been through the past 10 months. It is going to be a different looking meet, we won’t have fans. We’ve seen how basketball and football have performed without the external motivation of fans cheering for them. You have to be intrinsically motivated and just love this sport to go out and perform over 320 days since the last time you competed at the highest levels.”– Head Coach Curtis Frye

PROJECTED STARTING LINEUP (click to expand)

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A 2020 QUICK RECAP

Last season the Gamecocks were able to compete in nine indoor track meets during a truncated 2020 season due to the pandemic. Carolina’s men team finished 11th at the SEC Indoor Championships while the women finished in 12th. 

Hailey Sweatman was the lone Gamecock to break an indoor school record during the season, breaking the indoor Pole Vault record with a vault at the South Carolina Invitational that propelled her to qualification status for the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships. Returner Stephanie Davis posted one of the best indoor seasons in program history, earning a runner-up finish at the SEC Championships in the 400m with the sixth-fastest time in program history in a time of 52.15, the fastest indoor 400m time since 2008 by Brandi Cross. 

Returner Stephon Torrence made an impact in his first season with the Garnet and Black. The transfer posted the ninth-fastest time in program history in the 60m hurdles in a time of 7.73, a time that sent him to the NCAA Indoor Championships. Alongside Torrence, transfer Rayon Buttler made a splash in the 800m, scoring for Carolina at the SEC Championships in the eighth-fastest time in program history at 1:50.64. 

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS

The Gamecocks return eight total indoor All-Americans from last season, with Aliyah Abrams returning for just the outdoor season after exhausting her indoor eligibility. Last season the USTFCCCA named any qualifier of the 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships an All-American. 

Stephanie Davis is the lone multiple All-American to return, the Houston, Texas native earned the All-America distinction in both the 400m and the 4x400m relay. Davis was the starter on the 4x400m relay squad that included five-time All-American Aliyah Abrams along with a few first-timers in Knowledge Omovoh and Pearl Nagbe. Hailey Sweatman qualified for the NCAA Championships for the first time in her Carolina career. Though the vaulter wasn’t able to compete, she’ll return as one of the top vaulters in the SEC in 2021 and has a full year of eligibility remaining. 

Every returning All-American for the Carolina men were first timers last season. Rivaldo Leacock, E.J. Richardson and William Spencer Jr. were all members of the Gamecocks’ 4x400m relay squad that finished fourth at the SEC Indoor Championships and were seeded seventh at the cancelled 2020 NCAA Indoor Championships. Torrence, a junior college national champion, qualified for his first NCAA Division I championships in 2020 in the 60m hurdles and returns with high aspirations in 2021. 

MEET INFORMATION

During the 2021 season, no fans will be permitted at South Carolina Track and Field events due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Fans can follow the live results on Adkins Track and check with GamecocksOnline.com for updated information on the meet. 

There are no unattached permitted to compete at the Gamecock Opener, with an exception for any current student-athletes who are considered a redshirt. For more information on every home meet hosted by the Gamecocks, visit our Home Meet Information page here. Please check back later for final heat sheets. 

PLENTY OF NEW FACES IN COLUMBIA

The Gamecocks bring in the No. 4 ranked men’s class in 2021, according to MileSplit, with Gatorade Track Athletes of the Year Christian Lewis and Dylan Targgart aiming to make big splashes in 2021. Jackson Marseille, a high jumper out of Florida, was the No. 1 ranked high school high jumper in the country. Marseille was the only 2020 high jumper to clear seven feet with his personal best mark of 7’1 3/4. 

Doval Simmonds, a sprinter out of Virginia, also has gained national attention for his performances on the track. He won state titles in the 2020 indoor season in the 300 after winning the 2019 outdoor state championship in the 400m and the 200m. Dillon McCarthy, a Pole Vaulter from South Carolina, signed as a top 10 performer in the 2020 class with his outdoor personal best, and school record, of 16-3 coming in 2019. Kyle Reers, a distance runner from New Jersey, gained national attention for his performances in the 800m where he posted a 1:52.81 at the NJSIAA Meet of Champions that had him ranked as high as No. 3 in New Jersey and No. 8 in the United States among high school athletes.

The women also bring in a loaded class for the 2021 season as well. Four of the newcomers bring in top-five times in their respective events among the entire class. Synclair Savage and Rachel Glenn will make an impact in the field with top-five marks in the long jump and high jump while Glenn will also compete in the women’s high-hurdles for the Gamecocks. Ashton Lindley was the No. 2 ranked 400m hurdles among her class while Alysia Johnson joins Carolina with an outdoor 400m time of 53.18 and has posted a 200m time of 23.73 in her high school career. 

QUINCY HALL GOES PRO

University of South Carolina sprinter and hurdler Quincy Hall will begin his career as a professional track and field athlete, thus foregoing his final season of eligibility for the Gamecocks. Hall has signed with Trident Sports Management, an athlete management agency.
 
Hall will remain in Columbia for the 2021 year to train with South Carolina in preparation for the 2021 Olympics. He concludes his Gamecock career as the 2019 NCAA Champion in the 400m hurdles and a five-time All-American. In his two seasons at South Carolina, with one cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he leaves with three school records in the indoor 400m, outdoor 400m and the indoor 4x400m relay. 

“We are so proud of Quincy and we are glad that people have looked at his body of work to give him this opportunity,” South Carolina head coach Curtis Frye said. “From the time he was 13 years old to now, he has basically only been beaten in races less than a handful of times. He is a world class talent and we are sure he is going to have a great career as a professional.”

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