Eight Gamecocks Named Track & Field All-SEC

COLUMBIA, S.C. (May 20, 2025) – Before the track & field world turns its focus on NCAA Regionals, South Carolina celebrates the naming of eight student-athletes to the All-SEC Teams. The league office made the announcement on Tuesday afternoon. The criteria for All-SEC Teams are as follows: First Team (gold medalist), Second Team (silver medalist) and Third Team (bronze medalist).

 Five of the eight Gamecocks earned a spot on the First Team, led by JaMeesia Ford who achieved the criteria on four different occasions at the SEC Outdoor Championship. Ford individually won the 100m and the 200m, running 11.06 in the 100m sprint and then a program record time of 22.01 to capture the 200m title. Ford became the first Gamecock female to ever win the 100m gold medal at the SEC Outdoor Championship. Ford was also part of the gold-medal winning 4x100m relay and 4x400m relay, earning the Commissioner’s Trophy along the way. Joining Ford on the First Team are Zaya Akins, Cynteria James and Jayla Jamison who ran both relays as well. The quartet clocked 42.75 to capture the title in the 4x100m relay and then capped off the meet with a program record 3:24.26 to win the gold medal in the 4x400m. This is the first SEC Outdoor First Team All-SEC honor for each of the four honorees on the Gamecock relay squad.

Salma Elbadra caps off the First Team honorees for the Gamecocks, doing so after winning the 1500m. The Morocco sophomore distance runner captured the gold medal in the 1500m after running 4:20.21 to become the second Gamecock in three years to capture the women’s 1500m crown.

South Carolina was represented on the All-SEC Second Team by three members of the men’s squad: Channing Ferguson, CJ Licata and Josiah Wrice. Ferguson landed on his first All-SEC squad after jumping a personal best 7.92m (26-0) in the long jump, ranking fourth all time in program history. Additionally, Ferguson’s runner-up finish in the long jump is the best overall finish in program history for the Gamecocks in the men’s long jump. Licata earned his second consecutive SEC Outdoor Championship silver medal in the shot put, throwing 20.44m (67-0.75). Wrice rounds out the honorees for the Gamecocks with a runner-up finish in the 400m sprint. The freshman ran 45.40 for the best finish since Olympic Gold Medalist Quincy Hall won the event in 2019.