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THE GAMECOCK • Wednesday, June l, 2005 Q
X Vy_lLl GAME SCHEDULE
BASEBALL vs. Michigan, noon Friday
Women’s track eyes next NCAA title
FILE ART/THE GAMECOCK
USC’s men's track and field team finished fourth in regionals. Five
men will compete in the national championship next week.
By MIQUEL JACOBS
STAFF WRITER
After more than 100 years of
struggles, the USC women’s track
team captured the school’s first
national championship June 1,
2002. Only four weeks before, the
team won the SEC championship,
and coach Curtis Frye was named
National Coach of the Year.
Three years have passed, and the
Gamecocks seem to be blazing the
same path toward the school’s third
national championship, the second
going to the equestrian team earlier
this vear.
The womens outdoor track
team won the SEC championship
May 15 after an amazing
comeback on the final day of
competition. The Gamecocks
claimed victory with a 145.2 point
finish, 20 points ahead of second
place Arkansas.
The NCAA East Regionals in
New York were the next hurdle for
the Gamecocks, one that All
American junior Tiffany Ross
Williams, sophomore Ronnetta
Alexander and senior Shevon
Stoddart jumped over with ease.
The trio, along with nine other
individual athletes that earned
automatic berths for the NCAA
Outdoor Championships, helped
Carolina dominate the field with
102.25 points. The closest
competitor was Miami at 81, with
in-state rival Clemson finishing
13 th with 17.
“Our women’s team did a great
job advancing everyone to
nationals that we need to give us a
shot for the national title,” Frye
said. “The athletes, coaches and
staff did a wonderful job. The
Gamecocks are the regional
champions for the first time.”
USC claimed two victories in
the regionals, courtesy of the
traditionally dominating relay
teams. In the 400-meter relay,
freshmen Amberly Nesbitt and
Shalonda Solomon and seniors
Erica Whipple and Alexis Joyce ran
43.68, barely squeaking by Miami
for first. The 1,600-meter relay was
run by Stoddart, freshman Natasha
Hastings, junior Tawana Watkins
and sophomore Stephanie Smith
in 3:29.19. The victory was the
Gamecocks’ last of the day and
sealed the regional title, finishing
nearly three seconds ahead of
runner-up Miami.
All-American senior Chelsea
A
Hammond qualified with a
second-place showing in the l9ng
jump (20-7), an improvement
from her third-place finish in last
years regional. Junior Cheryl
Terrio’s third-place finish in the
pole vault with a personal best of
13-3 M earned her first trip to the
championships.
Alexander and Ross-Williams
finished second and fifth,
respectively, in the 100-meter
hurdles, with Ross-Williams also
advancing with a second-pl^ce
finish in the 400-meter hurdles.
Stoddart, who had already
advanced in the 1,600-meter relay,
also advanced in the 400-meter
hurdles with a third-place showing.
Joyce, Solomon, Smith and
Whipple, qualifiers in their
respective relays, earned
championship berths with strong
showings in the dashes. The
Gamecocks finished 2-3-4 in the
100-meter with Whipple and
Solomon leading the way, 11.44.
The two later qualified with top
five finishes in the 200-meter.
Smith was the lone qualifier in the
400-meter, finishing second with a
♦ TRACK, page 10
USC enters regionals
By ALEX RILEY
SPORTS EDITOR
After starting the season on fire,
the formerly top-10 Gamecocks
have found themselves faced with
hard times. USC hitters haven’t
helped back solid outings by the
pitching staff, leading to the
Gamecocks’ fall from being one of
the nation’s elite teams.
USC closed out the regular
season against the SEC cellar
dwellers of Kentucky with a three
game sweep, which fans believed
would be the starting point of
another magical postseason run for
the Gamecocks.
Those hopes looked to be
coming true, as Carolina downed
the Tennessee Volunteers 12-2 in
the opening round of the SEC
Tournament, advancing in the
winners’ bracket.
But the hope of a late-season
turnaround and possible host site
for the NCAA Regionals was
quickly dashed, as the Gamecocks
found themselves staring down a
13-strikeout performance by
Mississippi State senior Todd
Doolittle and a 6-2 loss. Carolina
bowed out the next day to
Tennessee 4-1 behind another 13
strikeout performance, this time by
freshman James Adkins.
Even with a dismal end to the
regular season, USC has found
itself in a familiar place — the
NCAA Tournament. The
Gamecocks grabbed the No. 2 seed
in the Atlanta bracket, headed up
by host school Georgia Tech (42
16), No. 3 Michigan (41-17) and
in-state rival Furman (30-27).
“It’s easy travel, we’ve been there
before, we have some experience
♦ BASEBALL, page 10
CHARLIE DAVENPORT/THE GAMECOCK
Ian Paxton waits on a pitch behind the plate earlier in the season.
The Gamecocks travel to Atlanta on Friday for their regional.