South Carolina Closes Indoor Season with NCAA Championship
BOSTON, Mass. (March 7, 2024) – South Carolina Track & Field has turned its focus to the penultimate meet for the indoor season, the 2024 NCAA Indoor Championship. The Gamecocks will open the NCAA Indoor title tomorrow afternoon in Boston, Mass. at the TRACK at New Balance.
The squad will look to improve on last season’s result in which the men finished T-36th overall at the national championship, while the women finished T-43rd.
Follow the Meet
Live results for the NCAA Indoor Championships can be found by clicking the link here. Anyone interested in watching the event live can do so on ESPN+. There will be an early and late session on ESPN+ for both Friday and Saturday. Fans can also follow along with updates on Twitter by following @GamecockTrack.
Meet Information
The 2024 NCAA Indoor Championships will take place at the TRACK at New Balance and will be a three-day meet with men’s and women’s weight throw being moved to this afternoon. The main portion of the meet will commence on Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9. This will be the first time that this event has been held in the venue.
Friday will feature mostly prelim events, while Saturday will be heavy with finals. The top eight scorers in each event will result in points for their teams in the following format (10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1). All-American statuses will be up for grabs this weekend. First Team All-American status is awarded to finishers 1-8 (individual and relays), while Second Team All-American is given to those who finish 9-16 (individual and relays). Athletes must have a valid mark to earn All-American status. Meaning those who do not finish a race, no height, foul three attempts or are disqualified will not be eligible for All-American status if no other valid mark from a previous round exists.
The first Gamecock to appear on Friday will be Anass Essayi in the men’s mile semifinals at 4 p.m. He will be followed by Anthony Greenhow in the men’s 200m semis at 5:40 p.m. and then JaMeesia Ford in the women’s 200m semifinals at 8:40 p.m. South Carolina will have a guarantee four events on Saturday with Dylan Targgart throwing in the men’s shot put at 2:45 p.m., Theo Mudzengerere jumping in the triple jump at 3:30 p.m., Essayi running the 3,000 meter at 5 p.m. and then the women’s 4x400m relay closing the event at 8:20 p.m.
History in the Making
The Gamecocks are looking to secure history in Beantown this weekend. On the men’s side, South Carolina will have four student-athletes competing in five events overall. Essayi will look to become the first NCAA Champion in the men’s mile and the men’s 3K in Gamecock indoor history, having finished runner-up in the men’s mile at the SEC Indoor Championship just two weeks ago. Greenhow aims to become the program’s first ever NCAA Indoor 200m champion, while Mudzengerere looks to go where no Gamecock has gone and win the triple jump crown. Targgart enters the meet with hopes of joining the legendary status of Brad Snyder, the two-time NCAA Indoor shot put champion.
For the women, reigning SEC Women’s Freshman Runner of the Year, JaMeesia Ford, will look to join Miki Barber (2000) and Shalonda Solomon (2006) as the only Gamecocks to win the indoor 200m championship. Meanwhile, the defending SEC 4x400m relay champion squad of Zaya Akins, Jahnile Registre, Jayla Jamison and Ford have their sights on becoming the sixth indoor 4x400m squad to win a national title while donning the Garnet & Black. Most recently, Stephanie Davis, Aliyah Abrams, Tatyana Mills and Wadeline Jonathas accomplished the feat in 2019.
