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STEVE YEATER/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Shalonda Solomon, center, passes Tremedia Brice of Texas Southern, left, and Cleo Tyson of Tennessee, right, to win the women’s 200-meter semifinal at the NCAA Finals on Thursday. Women’s track takes second By MIQUELJACOBS STAFF WRITER The USC womens outdoor track team lived up to and exceeded its expectations this season, finishing as the national runner-up this past Saturday in the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field championships. Tied with UCLA at 48 points, Carolina finished at its best since winning the national championship in 2002. It is the 10th straight year the Gamecocks have finished in the top 10, a feat matched by only UCLA and Texas. texas won tms seasons championship with 55 points and a strong finish on the final day of competition. The Longhorns, Golden Bears and Gamecocks were in position to claim the crown until the last event. The performance and fight his team displayed was more than enough to please USC coach Curtis Frye. “I am very proud of the performance we had,” Frye said. “We are proud that our women finished second in the nation. They represented our institution well — its an outstanding finish. We would have loved to won, but we take our hats off to Texas and to UCLA. They have outstanding programs, and it’s an honor to be among these teams.” The Gamecocks posted three second-place finishes on the women’s side and collected 18 All American honors, an improvement from last season’s 12. As the final day of competition concluded, the title hinged on the 1,600-meter relay - the last event. With UCLA leading Texas by 3 and USC by 8 going into the event, the Gamecocks found themselves in a situation similar to the East Regionals a few weeks earlier when the relay team edged Miami by three seconds to capture the East Championship. With UCLA not fielding a team for the event, the relay was run tightly before Texas squeaked to a first place finish at 3 minutes, 27.1 seconds, nine hundredths of a second ahead of the Gamecocks, who came in at 3:27.22. It marks the seventh straight year the Gamecocks scored in the event. “We knew it was going to come down to the 4x400-meter relay,” said senior Shevon Stoddart, USC’s lead runner in the event. “We all went out there and gave it our best and finished second. We have a great team who will hopefully come back next year and get it done.” rreshman Shalonda Solomon collected a runner-up finish in the 200-meter dash with a time of 22.86. The other runner-up finish occurred in the 400-meter hurdles as Gamecocks Stoddart and junior Tiffany Ross-Williams finished second and third, respectively. Both athletes ran personal bests that qualify as Nos. 2 and 3 on USC’s all-time list. Stoddart’s time (54.47) and Ross-Williams’ time (54.56) trail only that of former 16-time All-American Lashinda Demus, whose time of 53.43 last season earned her a berth in the 2004 Olympics. “When I got to the straightaway (300-meter), I saw I was in a good position to win and tried with all my heart to get that to that finish line,” Stoddart said. “She (Wyoming’s Shauna Smith) got that win, but I ran one of the best races I’ve ever ran.” Sophomore Stephanie Smith and freshman Natasha Hastings posted persona) bests at the championships _L: 1 __• _ a II a_:_1_ Smith finished third in the 400s at 50.93, and Hastings, the 2005 SEC Champion, was sixth at 51.87. USC’s All-American winners on the women’s side include Chelsea Hammond (eighth-long jump), 400-meter relay team (seniors Erica Whipple and Alexis Joyce, Ross-Williams and Solomon), 1600-meter relay team (Stoddart, Hastings, Ross-Williams and Smith), 400-meter hurdles (Stoddart and Ross-Williams) and the 200-meter dash (Smith and Hastings). All-American honors collected by the men’s team include junior Rodney Martin Jr. (100-meter and 200-meter) and freshman Jason Richardson (110-meter hurdles). The men’s team finished No. 26 with 12 points. Comments on this story? E-mail gamecocksports@gwm.sc.edu Briefs ESPN, CBS to air first 3 pigskin games For the first time in school history, the first three games of USC’s 2005 season will be featured on national television. The season opener against Central Florida is set for Sept. 1 at 7:45 p.m. on ESPN, with the Georgia contest kicking off Sept. 9 at 5:30 p.m. The Gamecocks’ third game of the season against Alabama is slated for a 3:30 p.m. start time on CBS Sept. 17. Other games could be broadcast pending USC’s success. Men’s golfer earns All-America honors Freshman Mark Anderson continues to add accolades to his resume, as the SEC’s Freshman of the Year was named to the Golf Coaches’ Association of America’s All-America third team last week. Anderson, who was also a first team All-SEC player, is the first USC golfer since 2003 to be an All-American. “To make one of the three All America teams is an exceptional accomplishment as a freshman,” USC coach Puggy Blacjyjjon said. “This certainly provides the foundation for Mark to become one of the most heralded players in USC golf history.” Women’s basketball signs new assistant After winning the Big West Conference Coach of the Year Honors last season, USC’s womens basketball team announced the hiring of former Cal State Northridge coach Tammy Holder. Holder led the Matadors to an 18-11 record last season after a 3-24 finish the previous year. The team’s record was good enough to get it into the conference tournament for^he first time in five seasons. Holder is no stranger to Columbia with two previous assistant coaching stints: 1984-88 and 1999-2000. “South Carolina is like a second home to me, and I am very excited to come back,” Holder said. “I look forward to working with Susan Walvius again and the challenge of the SEC.” ^KaaBmnttar Law School Admissions Seminar: Gain advice on how to successfully navigate die admissions process and leam how to craft an application that gets noticed! June 21st, 6:30 at Columbia, SC Kaplan Center Personal Statement Workshop: At this free event, team how to write a winning personal statement that gets the attention of admissions officers June 30th, 6:30 at Columbia, SC Kaplan Center M 1-800-KAPTEST today! kaptest.com/law Test Prep and Admissions •LSAT t% a registered trademark of the Law School Admission Council.