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Gamecock Men’s Track and Field Howard happy to be a Gamecock by Maneshka Eliatamby . The Gamecock Josephus “Pap” Howard, captain of the Gamecock men’s track team, has seen his share of gold. He was agold medalist at the Junior Olympic Games in 19% in the 4x400m relay and at the Pan-American Games in Cuba in 1997. Now Howard wants a SEC title to go with that gold. “I would like to set a personal record and win the SEC 200-meter dash as well as the 4x400 (relay),” Howard said. “I expect to see quite a few SEC Champions among the Gamecocks this year and a few top rankings as well.” So far, it looks as though Howard has agood chance at reaching that goal. The senior sprinter from Round Rock, Texas, has done extremely well in 2001, running times that have automatically qualified him for the NCAAs in the 200 meters and provisionally qualified him in the 100-me ters. Howard says ne is wnere ne is today because ot tne grace of God and the support he gets from his family. He says his biggest fans are his parents, Oscar and Cheryl, and his four sisters, who have stood by him through good times and bad. Howard spent a lot of time with his grand father, mowing lawns with him and going fishing. “The time I spent with my grandfather and my cousins created a close family atmosphere for me, and also made me into a better individual,” he said. Howard’s first love wasn’t track, but football - a game that he excelled in. He played tailback on his high school team during his freshman and sophomore years and began playing varsity during his sophomore year. He idolized Chicago’s Whiter Payton. However, after a few vanity games, Howard quit when he found that playing football wasn’t fun anymore. Football’s loss turned out to be track’s gain when Howard went head-on into the field of track sports. Even though he had been running track since the eighth grade, it was only once he gave up playing football that track began playing a significant part of his fife. Howard’s major breakthrough came when he be came the AAU Junior 01ympic,Champion and record “I saw how well the team was doing, and I prayed that I would be able to become part of the Gamecock track and field team.” Pap Howard ( USC sprinter holder in the 200 in 1995. He was also part of the gold-medal winning 4x400-meter relay team and the 4x100-meter relay team. Howard went on to defend his title in 1996 and clocked the second fastest time in the nation in the 200. 1997 turned out to be a memorable year for Howard. He qualified to be part of the U.S. team that traveled to Cuba to participate in the Pan-American Champi onships. He ran the second leg of the gold-medal win ning 4x100-meter relay team. In the same year, he ended his freshman season at Texas Tech by finishing third in the 200 at the NCAAs. Howard met USC head coach Curtis Frye for the first time at his first college meet when he was a fresh man at Texas Tech. It was only in the summer of 1999 that he decided to transfer to USC. “I saw how well the team was doing, and I prayed that I would be able to become part of the Gamecock track and field team,” Howard said. “Here I am today, doing well surrounded by good people.” Howard is working on his master’s in business in formation systems and said he would like to run pro fessionally after the end of the year. He also said he would like to work with children in the field of sports some day. The sports desk can be reached at gamecocksports@hotmail.com t 1 Special to The Gamecock Sprinter Pap Howard, a transfer from Texas Tech, has already qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the 100 and 200 meters. Head Coach Curtis Frye 5th year at USC 2001 Schedule MDOOR February 17 Gamecock Indoor Invitational February 17 George Mason Invitational February 18 SEC Championships March 1 Florida Fast Tries March 2-3 USATF Indoor Championships March 9-10 NCAA Indoor Championships OUTDOOR March 17 University of Miami Invitational March 23-24 Weems Baskin Sprint Relays March 31 SEC Quad April 6-7 Duke Invitational April 11 SC State Championships April 12-13 Sea Ray Relays April 20-21 Texas Team National Championship April 26-28 Penn Relays May 5 Jesse Owens May 10-13 SEC Championships May 18-19 Georgia Tech May 31 NCAA Outdoor June 14-17 USATF Championships TBA Junior Nationals August 3-12 IAAF World Championships USC Columbia, SC Fairfax, Va. Univ. of Kentucky Lexington. KY Univ. of Florida Gainesville, FL Atlanta, GA Univ. of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR Miami, FL USC Columbia, SC Univ. of Georgia Athens, GA Durham, NC USC Columbia, SC Univ. of Tennessee Knoxville, TN Univ. of Texas Austin, TX Philadelphia, PA Ohio State Columbus. OH USC Columbia, SC Atlanta, GA Eugene, OR Eugene, OR Edmonton, Canada I The Athletes James Adksson Fr. 6-4 Corey Alexander Fr. 5-9 Scott Alsup R-Fr.-Tr. 610 CJ Anderson Sr. 66 Adam Bishop R-Fr 65 Matt Carroll Jr. 69 Clint Crenshaw Jr. 69 Deandre- EHand Fr. 60 Brian Elam Fr. 60 Jared Farabee R-So. 611 CJ Frye Fr. 63 Otis Harris Fr. 61 Josephus Howard Sr. 611 Mark Howell Sr. 61 Jarred Johnson Jr. 69 Sean Krawieki Jr 60 James Law Jr-Tr. 610 Otukile Lekote Fr. 610 Trayor Lesnock Fr. 61 Chris Machd Jr. 61 Gany Martin Jr. 60 Langston Moore Fr. 61 Britt Newman Fr. 610 Graham Newman Jr. 60 LaMonte Pennington Sr. 63 Gerald Pressley Jr. 60 Shane Ricker Sr. 611 Sham us Singletary So 69 Matt Staub R-So 60 Chris Steddum So. 60 Corey Taylor So 61 Dustin Thomas Jr.-Tr. 69 Andre Totton Jr.-Tr. 60 Frederick Townsend Fr. 62 Chris Vanderbrink R-Fr 61 Ben Yocum So.-Tr. 610 Sprints, Jumps St. Lows,MO Sprints MooresviHe, NC Throws Havertvfl.MA Hurdles. Jumps. Multi Lakehurst.NJ Throws' Crossed. AR Distance Northvr«e, Ml Sprints Decatur. GA Sprints. Hurdles Tupelo.MS Sprints North Augusta. SC Pole Vault Butler. PA Throws Columbia. SC Sprints Edward, MS Sprints Round Rock. TX Distance Sumter. SC Hurdles Spartanburg. SC Multi Toms River, NJ Sprints Buffalo. NY Middle Distance Ramotswa. Botswana Middle Distance Washington.PA Multi Newington. CT Multi Marshfield. Wl Throws Charleston. SC Distance Sumter. SC Distance Sumter. SC Middle Distance Durham,NC Sprints Mauldin. SC Distance Columbia. SC Sprints Orangeburg. SC Throws Lexington. SC Sprints Houston. TX Hurdles/Sprints Decatur. GA Sprints Ridgewood,NJ Sprints Harrisburg,PA Hurdles/Sprints Baton Rouge. LA Throws Indian Harbor Beach. FL Decathlete HuntersviHe.NC