The Gamecocks hosted nearly 40 collegiate teams on Saturday for the final indoor event of the 2019 track season at the Carolina Indoor Track & Field Complex with four Gamecock athletes coming out victorious.
The first Gamecock victory came from junior Malik Paul, who won the men's weight throw with a mark of 17.01 meters, nearly an entire meter ahead of the rest of the field.
South Carolina's field success continued with sophomore KD Young who claimed the victory in the women's shot put with a throw of 14.54 meters. It was the first victory of the season for Young who was named to the 2018 All-Freshman Team last year.
Senior Yann Randrianasolo took home yet another victory, jumping a whopping 7.94 meters on his second and final long jump of the day. The jump moved him up from 16th to fifth on the NCAA list this season. His performance is the 14th best jump in the world this season.
"Yann had a tremendous jump," head coach Curtis Frye said according to Gamecocks Online. "We're trying to get him ready for the conference meet, and now he's got the rhythm and the steps. Hopefully he can duplicate that kind of performance at the SEC meet this week."
The final Gamecock victory came from senior Armand Woodley, who cleared a mark of 5.26 meters to win the men's pole vault. The past two weekends, he has set new personal bests. Even though he did not do so this weekend, he did manage to claim his second individual win of the season.
In addition to these wins, of the top eight athletes in the women's 3000-meter race, six of them were from South Carolina. Sophomore Brooke Wilson led the way for the Gamecocks, placing third overall with a time of 10:15.70.
Both the men's and women's 4x400 meter relay teams had strong showings. With a mark of 3:17.49, Noah Walker, Jeremiah Talbert, Kaden Briggs and Ian Fladd finished their regular season by claiming third place in the men's race. The women's squad of Jhari Williams, Macie Kavanaugh, Amecia Pennamon and Simone Wark ran a time of 3:49.40, fast enough to earn them second place in the women's event.
Frye said he was pleased with the results of the last regular-season indoor meet and that it is good to have a home track meet.
The Gamecocks have now turned the corner into their postseason and are heading to Arkansas next week for the annual Indoor Track and Field Championships. The event will be hosted by conference rivals University of Arkansas and will run from Feb. 22-23.