South Carolina Track & Field Gears Up for Elite Weekend
CLEMSON, S.C. (Feb. 8, 2024) – South Carolina Track & Field will split the team for another pair of meets this weekend, both on the road. Most of the student-athletes competing this weekend will do so in the Tiger Paw Invite at Clemson, while 12 distance runners will head to Boston University for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational.
TIGER PAW INVITE
Follow the Meet
Fans can access live results for the Tiger Paw Invite by clicking here. There will also be live video coverage of both days of the event on ACC Network Extra. For video coverage on Friday, click here and for Saturday, click here. Fans can also follow along with updates on Twitter by following @GamecockTrack.
Meet Information
The Tiger Paw Invite will be a two-day meet beginning on Friday morning at the Clemson Indoor Track & Field Complex. The meet will run from 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Friday and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. There will be a grand total of 30 teams competing this weekend, including the likes of Texas A&M, Tennessee, Georgia, Penn State, Illinois and Alabama.
DAVID HEMERY VALENTINE INVITATIONAL
Follow the Meet
Fans that are interested in following live stats for the David Hemery Valentine Invitational can do so by clicking the following link. There will also be live video through FloSports that fans can access for a fee. As always, fans are strongly encouraged to follow @GamecockTrack on Twitter for updates throughout the meet.
Meet Information
The David Hemery Valentine Invitational is a two-day meet on the campus of Boston University and is an historically strong distance event. The Gamecocks will have 12 total distance runners competing in the event, six runners from each gender. Last season in this event, Anass Essayi and Silan Ayyildiz achieved their NCAA Indoor Championship qualifying times in the mile from this meet.
Watch Her Now
JaMeesia Ford achieved an accomplishment that only two other female Gamecocks before her reached – a spot on The Bowerman Watch List. The freshman phenom was named to the mid-indoor watch list on Wednesday afternoon by the USTFCCCA. She joined LaKya Brookins (2011) and Jeannelle Scheper (2015) as the only female Gamecock to be named to the list.
In the Rankings
The Gamecock men are ranked 21st in the latest Top 25 USTFCCCA Rankings heading into this weekend, while the women come in at No. 17. The women are paced by the sprints groups as they rank second in the 400m and fourth in the 200m.
With the NCAA Indoor National Championship just four weeks away, the Gamecocks currently have seven qualified standards. Individually, Ford ranks first in the 200m and fifth in the 400m to make up for two of the team’s seven marks. The next highest individual is Anass Essayi who ranks fifth in the 3,000m, followed by Dylan Targgart who is sixth in the shot put. Both Anthony Greenhow (200m) and Theo Mudzengerere (triple jump) rank eighth in their respective event. Lastly, the women’s 4x400m relay of Zaya Akins, Jayla Jamison, Jahnile Registre and Ford sit second in the NCAA rankings.
