March 3, 2012

BLACKSBURG, Va. – South Carolina athletes competed at NCAA Last Chance qualifiers at Virginia Tech and Iowa State Saturday in a last bid to earn qualifying marks for next week’s NCAA Indoor Championship.

The women’s 4×400-meter relay team was the only group to improve its NCAA standing Saturday. The quartet of Erika Rucker, Nadonnia Rodriques, Christal Green and Amber Allen ran 3:36.87 to take third overall at the Iowa State meet.

The rest of the Gamecocks competed at Virginia Tech and were led by a winning jump in the pole vault from Marvin Reitze. Reitze, considered a lock for NCAA’s with the top non-automatic qualifying mark in the nation at 17’11 ¾ (5.48m), won the pole vault competition at 17’8 ¼ (5.39m).

Sophomore Chris Royster won the men’s 200-meter dash at 21.70 for the second win of the day for the Gamecocks.

Freshman Damiere Byrd and junior Jarrod Hutchen both earned third-place finishes in their respective events. Byrd ran 6.71 in the men’s 60-meter dash, and Hutchen jumped 24’1 ¾ (7.36m) in the long jump to complete their indoor seasons.

Freshmen Chris Walker and Thomas Gaither also competed in sprints with Walker finishing sixth in the 400-meter dash at 49.95, and Gaither finishing 12th in the 800-meter at 2:02.52. Junior David Wilkins rounded out the men’s team with an eighth-place finish in the high jump at 6’6 (1.98m).

On the women’s side, senior Kierre Beckles had the top time of the day in the women’s 60-meter hurdles at 8.20. Radiance Basden took seventh in the triple jump at 41’1 ½ (12.53m), and Petra Olsen finished 10th in the pole vault at 12’11 (3.94m).

The 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships will be held March 9-10 at the Idaho Center Complex in Nampa, Idaho. Bids for the championships will be announced Monday.