Gamecock Track and Field Opens Outdoor Season at Tiger Track Classic

COLUMBIA– The South Carolina track and field teams open up the outdoor season on Friday and Saturday at the Tiger Track Classic in Auburn, Alabama, on the campus of Auburn. The Gamecocks get a shot at opening the year in the 4X100-meter relay, discus, hammer, and javelin at Auburn. Most of the team has been off since the SEC Indoor Championships in February and other athletes have not competed since the UofSC Indoor Open on Feb. 18. The Gamecocks have the opportunity to start the season off right in Auburn this weekend.

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 at the Tiger Track Classic kicks off at 3 p.m. on Friday with the men’s hammer throw. Running events get going at 8 p.m. on Friday night with the fastest section of the women’s 1,500 meters. Saturday’s schedule begins at Noon with the women’s pole vault. Running events for Saturday’s portion of the meet begin at 1 p.m. with the women’s 4X100-meter relay.

Last Time Out
The Gamecocks were in Birmingham, Alabama, for the NCAA Indoor Championships. The women’s team finished in a tie for 18th place and the men’s squad tied for 47th in the country. Rachel Glenn took third in the women’s high jump, Evan Miller took sixth in the men’s 200 meters, the women’s 4X400-meter relay team took fifth and Destinee Rocker finished 13th in the 60-meter hurdles. A full recap of the NCAA Indoor Championships can be found below.

Weather Report
FRIDAY
– Conditions: Thunderstorms
– Temperature: High of 69°
– Chance of Precipitation: 97%

SATURDAY
– Conditions: Partly Cloudy
– Temperature: High of 64°
– Chance of Precipitation: 20%

Coach Frye on the Meet
On his thoughts heading into the outdoor season
“I think we do have a better set outdoors, but we’ll still depend on the same kids as indoors. I’m still celebrating the achievements of the kids from Nationals. I’m so proud of our women’s team’s top-20 finish and for Evan Miller who scored team points for the men. I’m excited for a lot of these events like the 400-meter hurdles and 4X100-meter relay. The men have the chance to be better outdoors. We’re looking forward to the women’s team as well. We have a lot of reasons to be excited for this season. We’ve got good teams coming to our home meets. We’ve got to be ready quick. We have one home meet before we go to Florida Relays. We’ll see where we’re at there.”

On the Tiger Track Classic
“It’s the first outdoor meet and there are going to be a lot off people that haven’t been running. It’s the first meet, it’s an opener. We’re not going down there with expectations to defend our 18th-place finish at Nationals. It’s about getting some coaching and expanding that from practice so these athletes can improve and make a contribution at the conference and national meets. We’ve got to keep it in that perspective. The first two meets are about seeing if they will travel to Florida. We’ll have some kids doing off events as well.”

On managing when athletes focus on heavier training compared to competition preparation
“There’s a baseline, especially for injured athletes. The people that have missed some weeks, you keep them going at the place they are in their plan and go from there in their plan. You’ve got a calendar of weeks and when you lose weeks, you try to replace those weeks and do half weeks where one half is quantity and the other is about quality. Getting people to buy in to your process and system is so important.”

Out With the Old and Into the New
The Tiger Track Classic marks the beginning of the outdoor track and field season for the Gamecocks.

Head Coach Curtis Frye said he is excited for a lot of reasons in the outdoor season. Frye said he is excited to bring back the 400-meter hurdles and 4X100-meter relay events because he feels his roster is equipped to compete in those events on the national stage.

Last season, the Gamecock men and women combined for seven top-40 East Regional times in the 400-meter hurdles. Carolina’s 4X100-meter relays were also both in the top 50 in the region at the end of the 2021 outdoor season.

Four of those seven 400-meter hurdlers are on the roster again this season for the Gamecocks and four of the eight combined 4X100-meter legs return in 2022 as well.

Indoor NCAA Championships Recap
The Gamecocks came away with three First Team All-American performances as well as one Second Team All-American performance.

Rachel Glenn earned a bronze medal for her third-place finish in the high jump. Glenn cleared 1.86m/6-1.25 to take third and earn her third First Team All-America high jump honor in three tries. Glenn cleared her first four bars without a miss but was unable to clear 1.89m/6-2.25.

The women’s 4X400-meter relay team of Makenzie Dunmore, Glenn, Alysia Johnson and Aaliyah Pyatt took fifth overall with a time of 3:33.08. The quartet earned First Team All-America honors for their performance.

The Gamecock women took fifth despite losing Stephanie Davis, who was ranked No. 5 in the NCAA in the 400 meters coming into this week, due to injury.

Evan Miller earned his first career All-America honor in the men’s 200 meters. Miller ran a time of 21.05 to finish in sixth place. Miller had never made an NCAA final race prior to the 2022 Indoor Championships.

Miller was the lone Gamecock man to qualify for Nationals and he outperformed his No. 13 ranking coming into the week to score team points for Carolina.

Destinee Rocker took 13th in the 60-meter hurdles prelims with a time of 8.10, which is just .03 seconds off her personal best. Rocker earned Second Team All-America honors for the second consecutive year in the 60-meter hurdles. She finished ninth in the qualifying round in 2021.

Bringing It Back, Jack
The outdoor season sees the return of a handful of events exclusive to the outdoor season.

The 4X100-meter relay, 400-meter hurdles, 3,000-meter steeplechase, discus and javelin are exclusively outdoor events.

The 60 meters moves to 100 meters outdoors and the Mile moves to 1,500 meters in the outdoor season. The 10,000 meters and 5,000 meters make up the duo of distance races compared to the 5,000 meters and 3,000 meters indoors. The hammer throw replaces the weight throw, but the event requires similar techniques.

The distance medley relay is no longer an event at championship meets, but may pop up occasionally throughout the season at special relay-centric meets.

The Gamecocks historically benefit from the move to the outdoor season. Carolina’s history in the 4X100-meter relay and the 400-meter hurdles is prominent. The Gamecock women famously captured the Gamecocks’ first ever team NCAA title in 2002 during the outdoor track and field season.