Gamecock Track and Field Hosts Senior Day at UofSC Open

COLUMBIA– Gamecock track and field wraps up its home slate on Saturday with the UofSC Open. This meet likely serves as a final regular season opportunity for most athletes to throw down Regional qualifying times. The UofSC Open also serves as Gamecock track and field’s Senior Day and Carolina will honor its senior class. That ceremony is slated for a 12:05 p.m. start.

Follow the Meet
Live results can be found at https://results.adkinstrak.com/meets/14303.

Fans can come watch the Gamecock Invitational at the Sheila and Morris Cregger Track for free.

Fans can follow along with updates on Twitter @GamecockTrack. A full recap will be posted on Twitter, Facebook and GamecocksOnline.com.

Meet Schedule
The UofSC Open is slated for a 9 a.m. start with the women’s hammer throw and the men’s javelin. Track events are set to begin at 10:05 a.m. with the fastest section of the women’s 3,000 meters.

Last Time Out
Dylan Targgart had a standout performance in the men’s shot put. The redshirt-freshman tossed the shot 19.02m/62-5 to earn an event victory. Targgart’s mark is good for No. 6 in Gamecock history.

Doval Simmonds won the 400 meters’ invitational section with a personal-best time of 46.36. Simmonds’ performance marked his first career collegiate individual victory.

Jackson Marseille set a new outdoor personal best in the men’s high jump and matched his overall personal best. Marseille cleared 2.15m/7-0.50 to finish as the competition’s runner-up. He moves into a tie for seventh on the Gamecocks’ all-time outdoor performance list.

On the women’s side, the quarter-Mile crew stood out. Stephanie Davis won the 400 meters’ invitational section with a time of 52.11 in her return to competition. Davis qualified for the 400 meters indoors but could not compete due to injury. Makenzie Dunmore finished in second with a time of 52.20 and Alysia Johnson took third with a personal-best time of 52.41.

Weather Report
SATURDAY
– Conditions: Mostly Sunny
– Temperature: High of 84°
– Chance of Precipitation: 6%
 

Coach Frye on the Meet
On what he’s looking forward to at the UofSC Open
“We had a good meet last week. The weather came through at the end of the day. We got some good marks that we feel like we could live with. We had what we feel are some Regional qualifiers and so we’re hoping for more of that. We want to get a good Mile relay in and get some good exchanges in the 4X100-meter relay, especially with the guys. We’re trying to get a good mark up there for the guys. They’ve already got Regional settings. I’m looking forward to this meet. You’ve got Anass Essayi running an 800 meters to get him going before Penn Relays and then set him up for the rest of they year. He has a Regional time, but wants a good time for World Championship qualifying. We had a great meet in the shot put last week and we have great groups from Wake Forest and North Carolina bringing throwers. Last week, Ohio State gave us everything we needed and more and this week we’ll have Clemson. We’ll have more of an ACC flavor this week. Allyson Felix will be running the 200 meters and will be on the 4X400-meter relay with Wadeline Johnathas. There’s a lot of special stuff happening.”

On this year’s Senior Class
“We have a lot of great kids in this group, including Stephanie Davis who was a national champion in the 4X400-meter relay. This class kind of started a new era. We’ve got some great groups as freshmen and sophomores to go along with this great group of seniors. We have kept that success going. Most of our men’s core returns, but we have someone like David Olds who is graduating. He has been a role model and that middle distance group is the best it’s ever been. We’ve got five kids that can run from 4:08 to 4:12 as a group of kids who came in running 4:22 or 4:25 and that group bit into a commitment without cross country. This class’ academics have been outstanding. The cross country team will be honored and they’ve been an All-Academic team for 17 years in a row.”

Honoring the Gamecock Seniors
The Gamecocks plan to honor 23 seniors on Saturday.

The ceremony honoring the 2022 senior class is slated to take place in the middle of the action at the Sheila and Morris Cregger Track.

All-Americans Destinee Rocker and Makenzie Dunmore are among the senior class. Dunmore earned All-America honors for the Gamecocks in March as a member of the women’s 4X400-meter relay team.

Rocker earned Second Team All-America honors in the 60-meter hurdles in 2021 and 2022.

A few of the Gamecock seniors are also distinguished scholars. Macie Kavanaugh was named the Female Scholar Athlete of the Year at this year’s Gamecock Gala. Briana Reckling and David Olds also were named Brad Davis Scholars at this year’s Gamecock Gala.

This senior class has 23 top-10 marks in school history, including Destinee Rocker’s school record in the indoor 60-meter hurdles.

The 2022 Gamecock seniors will be honored at 12:05 p.m. on the Sheila and Morris Cregger Track on Saturday.

Qualification Situation
With only a few weeks left in the qualification window for the NCAA Regionals, the Gamecocks have plenty of athletes in position to qualify for the NCAA East Regional in Bloomington, Indiana, in May.

The Gamecocks have 29 performers in qualifying position with three meets remaining ahead of NCAA postseason action.

Of the 29 in qualifying position, 11 Gamecock times and marks are in the top 10 of the East Region.

Will Spencer Jr. leads the East Region in the 400-meter hurdles with a time of 49.56. EJ Richardson is also in qualifying position in the men’s 400-meter hurdles at No. 47 with a time of 53.01.

Rachel Glenn is ranked second in the country in the women’s high jump. Her season’s best clearance is 1.90m/6-2.75. Glenn is also in the top 10 in the East Region in the 400-meter hurdles. She is ranked sixth in the region with a time of 56.43.

In the men’s high jump, Jackson Marseille is sitting in 11th with a season-best mark of 2.15m/7-0.50.

The Gamecock women have two relay teams in the top 10 of the East Region. The women’s 4X100-meter relay is at No. 7 with a time of 43.36 and the women’s 4X400-meter relay team is ranked fifth in the region with a time of 3:30.26.

South Carolina’s women’s squad has five individuals in qualifying position of the 400 meters. Stephanie Davis (6th), Makenzie Dunmore (7th), Alysia Johnson (12th), Angel Frank (22nd) and Aaliyah Pyatt (26th) all are in good position to qualify for the East Regional.

Dylan Targgart broke the 19-meter barrier in the men’s shot put. The freshman is ranked eighth in the East Region with a toss of 19.02m/62-5. Targgart is also on the bubble in the men’s discus. He is ranked 49th in the East Region in that event.

Destinee Rocker is ranked 10th in the East Region in the 100-meter hurdles. She has a season-best time of 13.12.

Filip Demsar is also in qualifying position in the 110-meter hurdles. He ran a time of 13.83 in his season opener.

With three competitions left in the qualifying window, the Gamecocks will try to improve their seeding and get some athletes from the outside looking in to a qualifying position.