Carolina Track and Field Competing for Titles in Birmingham

COLUMBIA– The South Carolina track and field teams head to Birmingham, Alabama, for the NCAA Indoor Championships, which are set for Friday and Saturday. The Gamecocks have five entries at the national championships: Evan Miller (men’s 200 meters), Stephanie Davis (women’s 400 meters), Destinee Rocker (women’s 60-meter hurdles), Rachel Glenn (women’s high jump) and the women’s 4X400-meter relay team. Glenn comes in as the reigning outdoor national champion in the high jump and was the runner-up in the high jump at the 2021 NCAA indoor meet. Miller and Rocker were Second Team All-Americans in 2021.

ESPN3 will stream the championships live starting at 11 a.m. on Friday and starting at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday. A follow-up presentation of the championship will take place starting at 9:30 p.m. Sunday on ESPNU. Live results can be found at here. Fans can follow along with updates on Twitter @GamecockTrack. A full recap will be posted on Twitter, Facebook and GamecocksOnline.com.

Meet Schedule
Action for Carolina at the NCAA Indoor Championships begins at 6:25 p.m. with Evan Miller in the men’s 200-meter semifinals. Stephanie Davis (8:25 p.m.) and Destinee Rocker (8:55 p.m.) also compete in their respective semifinals on Saturday night.

Rachel Glenn is set to kick off Saturday for the Gamecocks with the women’s high jump final at 1:30 p.m. Should Miller advance to the men’s 200-meter final, he would compete at 5:50 p.m. Pending advancement from the semifinals, Davis would run at 8:20 p.m. and Rocker would compete at 8:40 p.m. The women’s 4X400-meter relay team wraps up competition at 9:20 p.m. on Saturday night.

Last Time Out
The Gamecocks had three podium finishers at the SEC Indoor Championships. Anass Essayi announced himself with a spectacular performance in the Mile. He won a gold medal with a school and meet record time of 3:57.37. Rachel Glenn finished as the runner-up in the women’s high jump. She earned her second consecutive All-SEC award (2021 outdoor, 2022 indoor). Filip Demsar took third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.75 seconds. He ran his season-best time to earn bronze.

Coach Frye on the Meet
On his thoughts heading into the NCAA Indoor Championships
“Being here is awesome and some new athletes might be awestruck. For the athletes who have been here before, they know the positions they’re in. The reality of your rankings are in their minds. Everybody here is legit. The 4X400-meter relay is No. 5, but they know they need to run out of their minds because No. 6 is just as good. It’s the same for No. 4.”

On Rachel Glenn, who has finished in the top two in each of her NCAA Championships appearances
“Anybody hat’s here that are in the top five (in the high jump) can win it. There’s just an inch difference between first and second. I don’t count Rachel out. Rachel is a big time performer. She’ll be in the top three. Same with Stephanie. Stephanie is tough. Barring anything, she will be top five and the 4X400-meter relay can be in the top five, too.”

On how high the 4X400-meter relay team can place
“We can be in the top five. That’s where we came in. That’s where we need to be. If everyone on our chart finishes where they’re supposed to, we will have had a successful meet, and I’ll be happy. I think we’ll get some points and be in the top 20 (in the team race) on the women’s side. On the men’s side, it’s about scoring. That’s the whole goal. When you’re 13th in the country in your event, it’ll be difficult. Evan has drawn a really good heat. He’s in lane five. If he can finish in the top two of his heat, he can make the finals. We’ve got the possibilities. Our kids feel like they’ve got a shot. We’re on the upswing. We haven’t had our best track yet.”

Qualified for the Position
The Gamecocks have five entries in the NCAA Indoor Championship field.

Rachel Glenn comes in as the highest-ranked Gamecock in the country. She comes in at No. 3 in the NCAA in the women’s high jump. She cleared a season-best height of 1.88m/6-2 at the SEC Championships on the way to a runner-up finish at the conference meet.

Stephanie Davis is ranked fifth in the NCAA in the women’s 400 meters. She ran her season-best time of 51.29 at the SEC Championships. That performance earned her a fifth-place finish and was behind the four best performances in the country this season.

The women’s 4X400-meter relay team is at No. 7 in the NCAA with a time of 3:29.36, which they ran at the Tiger Paw Invitational on Feb. 11. The Gamecocks’ season-best time was the second-fastest in school history.

Evan Miller raced his way into th NCAA Championships with a time of 20.71 at the conference meet in the men’s 200 meters. He took fourth at the SEC Championships and ran the 13th-fastest time in the country this season.

Destinee Rocker ran the school-record time in the 60-meter hurdles at the Tiger Paw Invitational. She ran a time of 8.07 seconds to finish the season at No. 15 in the country.

Indoor NCAA Championships History
The Gamecock men have made six straight appearances at the NCAA Indoor Championships and the women have made the national indoor meet five straight years.

All-in-all, the Carolina men have won eight indoor individual titles and the Carolina women have taken home 15 indoor individual titles.

The Gamecocks men’s highest team finish came in 1974 when they took third as a team. The Gamecock women’s highest finish came in 2000 and 2001 when they took second overall as a team.

At the 2021 Indoor Championships, Rachel Glenn was the runner-up in the high jump. The true freshman cleared 1.87m/6-1.50 to earn a silver medal. Filip Demsar took sixth overall in the men’s 60-meter hurdles and the women’s 4X400-meter relay team took seventh for First Team All-America honors. Evan Miller and Destinee Rocker both earned Second Team All-American honors with 13th- and ninth-place finishes, respectively.

The Gamecocks are on the hunt for more success in Birmingham.

SEC Championships In Review
The Gamecocks earned a pair of 12th-place team finishes and saw individual successes in College Station.

Anass Essayi, in just his second collegiate race, became the first ever Gamecock to run a sub-4 minute Mile in his victorious effort in the men’s Mile. Essayi ran a time of 3:57.67 to capture the first ever men’s Mile SEC title by a South Carolina athlete. Essayi’s time also set the new SEC Indoor Championships meet record.

Rachel Glenn also earned All-SEC honors for her performance in the women’ high jump. She cleared 1.88m/6-2 to finish as the conference’s runner-up. 

Filip Demsar was the other Gamecock to earn All-SEC honors. He finished third in the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.75.

Stephanie Davis took fifth in the women’s 400 meters. She ran a new indoor personal best of 51.29. Davis also moved into No. 2 on the Gamecock all-time indoor performance list. She is only behind Natasha Hastings who ran a time of 50.80 in 2007.