COLUMBIA, S.C. (Jan. 14, 2023) – Many words come to mind when describing South Carolina Track & Field’s home opener, but none better than – dominant. The Gamecocks claimed 17 victories at the Gamecock Opener on Saturday at the Carolina Indoor Track & Field Complex and found themselves cracking the NCAA Top-50 on 20 different occasions.
“The kids took the meet to a different place,” stated Head Coach Curtis Frye. “Lots of the kids today had personal bests and a lot of times the first meet of the season doesn’t result in personal bests. We expected a lot of wins this weekend since this is our home and we practice here daily. We also appreciate having our facility give other schools the opportunity to run well. I was not expecting guys like Dylan Targgart throwing 62 feet or Evan running the second-best 400 in school history in the first meet.”
On the men’s side, there were nine total victories, including Evan Miller in the 400m as he ran a 45.91 time for the fastest indoor 400 this season. Miller’s mark was also the second fastest 400m indoor race in Gamecock history. The Gamecocks went 1 through 4 in the 400m, as EJ Richardson (48.29) clocked the 31st-fastest 400 this season and Anthony Greenhow (48.46) set a personal best with the 40th-fastest time in NCAA.
William Spencer, Jr. found himself claiming the podium with a new indoor 800-meter personal record with a time of 1:53.51, the 41st-fastest 800m race this season. International competitor Filip Demsar cracked the NCAA Top-10 in the 60-meter hurdles when he stopped the clock at 7.81 to come away with yet another victory.
Kobe Franklin and Dylan Targgart left their marks in the field events today, each capturing the fifth-best mark in program history in their respective events. Franklin cleared 2.15m in the high jump, the 5th-highest jump in the NCAA this season, as he started off his season with a victory. Targgart started his shot put campaign off with a personal-best throw of 18.88m to rank ninth in the NCAA this season.
The men’s relay teams also got things started on the right foot, finishing first and second in the Distance Medley Relay. The tandem of Alex Galbraith, Jacob Mangione, Kyle Reers and Henry Wood captured the win with a time of 10:24.83, ranking 15th in the NCAA. The squad of Aidan Hatton, Ethan Mathis, William Wright and George Luke were right on their heels with a mark of 10:25.85, taking second overall and placing 17th in the NCAA. The always coveted…