Anass Essayi Named SEC Runner of the Week
The SEC Mille champion ran the No. 2 NCAA time and SEC lead in the 1,500 meters last Friday
COLUMBIA—Anass Essayi picked up SEC Runner of the Week honors for his performance at the Joe Walker Invitational over the weekend.
Essayi won the 1,500 meters at the Joe Walker Invitational on Friday night. He took home a victory with the No. 2 time in the NCAA of 3:39.03. Essayi’s time leads the SEC, which helped him earn his first career SEC weekly award.
Essayi defeated reigning NCAA Mile champion Mario Garcia Romo of Ole Miss on a windy, chilly night on the champion’s home track in Oxford, Mississippi. The field Essayi defeated was responsible for six of the top 50 times in the NCAA this season at 1,500 meters.
The Moroccan’s time of 3:39.03 set the school record in the 1,500 meters, taking down Essayi’s time from the week prior at the Florida Relays. Before Essayi’s Florida Relays performance, the school record was set in 1974 by Jim Schaper.
Essayi is the fifth Gamecock athlete to pick up SEC weekly awards this year. Anthony Greenhow, Jr., Carson Lenser, Jayla Jamison and Tierra Frasier all have earned SEC Freshman of the Week awards this year.
Essayi and the Gamecocks return to the track on Saturday for the Gamecock Invitational. Action from the Sheila and Morris Cregger Track is set to begin at 9 a.m.
