LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 25, 2024) – South Carolina Women’s Track & Field was on full display Saturday, closing out the 2024 NCAA East Regional in style. The Gamecocks punched nine total tickets, seven individual and two relays, to the upcoming NCAA Outdoor Championship in Eugene, Ore. in less than two weeks.
The 4x100m relay and the 4x400m relay left no doubt for Carolina, cruising to the National Championship in both events. South Carolina opened the day with a program record in the 4x100m relay as Jayla Jamison, Cynteria James, Zaya Akins and JaMeesia Ford clocked 42.46, breaking the previous record of 42.83 set in 2003, running the fastest time in the regional meet. The 4x400m relay of Akins, Jamison, Sylvia Chelangat and Ford closed the meet with a time of 3:26.73 to win the third heat and punch yet another relay ticket for the Gamecocks.
Sandwiched between the two relays were seven individuals who secured tickets to Oregon, beginning with Judy Kosgei who finished fifth overall in the 1500m and earned an automatic spot after running 4:08.69. Shortly after Kosgei secured her ticket, fellow freshman and Kenya native Teresa Cherotich broke her own South Carolina steeplechase record when she clocked the first sub-10 minute mark in program history, running 9:59.61 to qualify on time.
The next individual to qualify was Zaya Akins in the 400m, running a personal best time of 51.33 to finish fifth overall and earn an automatic spot. Akins’ time also marked the 10th fastest outdoor 400m time in program history. Sylvia Chelangat then stamped her name into the semifinals in Oregon, doing so in the 800m after running 2:01.80 to finish third in her heat and earn the automatic spot.
The final three individual tickets all came from the 200m sprint with Ford, Jamison and James each earning their own respective tickets. Ford finished with a time of 22.28 (-0.1) to win her heat, finishing just ahead of fellow teammate Jamison who ran 22.66 (-0.1) to secure her automatic spot. James was the last qualifying time to advance after she saved her best 200m performance for the regional meet, running a new wind-legal personal best time of 23.06 (-0.1) to finish 12th overall.
The Gamecocks will now turn their focus on the 2024 NCAA Outdoor Championship hosted in Eugene, Ore. beginning on Wednesday, June 5 and concluding on Saturday, June 8. In all, the Gamecocks qualified for a total of 13 combined events between the two teams, with the women leading the way with…