FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - South Carolina's Johnny Dutch and Washington State's Jeshua Anderson have been in a civil battle for national supremacy in the 400m hurdles since the U.S. Olympic Trials last year, and the two put on yet another exciting race in Friday's NCAA final with Dutch finishing second for silver medal honors with a time of 48.62.
"I feel fine," Dutch said. "I had high expectations about myself, but I'm here, I got silver and I ran my heart out. That's all I can ask for. I would have liked first, but you can't always get what you want. This just motivates me to practice and train even harder."
Dutch took the earlier battles between the two - placing higher at the Olympic Trials, running the fastest time in the nation this year heading into the championships and winning the semifinal - but Anderson crossed the tape in Friday's final at 48.47. However, Dutch remains level and accepting of a sophomore season that saw him take bronze medal honors indoors in the 60-meter hurdles and now silver outdoors for two All-America honors after an injury plagued freshman season.
"It's crazy," Dutch said of the close battles. "We are really good friends. We were roommates over in Poland last year (for the 2008 Junior World Championships where the duo went 1-2 in the 400m hurdles). For him to be my competitor is crazy. He's like a brother. I know he works hard, he's a strong competitor and he keeps me motivated because I know he works just as hard."
After the third day of competition, South Carolina's men sits in sixth place with 18.5 points while the women are 35th with six points. Saturday's finals will be broadcast live on CBS (WLTX-19) from 1-3 p.m. EST.
Originally scheduled to start at 3:45 p.m., the men's pole vault did not get underway until 8:30 p.m. and lasted until nearly 11 p.m. (CT) as Rice's Jason Colwick continued to clear heights up until he battled for South Carolina coach Lawrence Johnson's NCAA record. Johnson's record remained intact, and the lone Gamecock competing in the event took fourth as freshman Marvin Reitze cleared 17-06.50 (5.35m) to end his first collegiate season with Carolina's first All-America honor in the event since 2002.
"I'm really happy that I stepped up at the most important meet of the season," Reitze. "I jumped 5.35m, a season best, earned fourth place and I'm happy to score points for the team so we can get closer to the national championship. I improved a lot in my jumping, I fixed them today and finally I jumped a really good height."
The women's 4x100m relay team of Lakya Brookins, Shayla Mahan, Gabrielle Glenn and Breehana Jacobs came into the meet seeded fourth in the nation, but the team was determined to keep alive the Gamecock tradition of excellence in the relay as the quartet combined to run their fastest time this season and the seventh fastest time in program history at 43.41.
"It was really exciting," Jacobs said. "This was a big step for all of us. We struggled at the beginning of the season, but we made it through and got third. We're all happy. This is my freshman year on the track so I was excited to be on the 4x1 team."
Texas A&M's women ran away with the title at a new collegiate record of 42.36, but the Gamecocks matched them nearly step for step before the Aggies and Florida State took the edge in the final 20 meters. Carolina's six points put the women on the board and improved on the team's seventh place finish at the 2008 championships.
"I definitely feel good because I was hurt last year and wasn't able to make it," Brookins said. "I'm happy that I was able to contribute."
The men's 4x100m relay team followed suit with a season best of its own, crossing the tape at 39.09 to claim fifth despite a series of handoffs that were less than fluid. The team consisted of Johnathan Hancock, Antonio Sales, Quentin Moore and Obakeng Ngwigwa as they earned the fifth place spot after Texas A&M earned a disqualification after initially placing third, moving every other team up one spot.
"It was a good race," Hancock said. "We ran a PR but we had a few bad handoffs. We still ran a PR, so that's good to place in the top five and score points for the team. That's all we were concerned with."
"I was just trying to do everything to help my team out," Sales added. "We were in it to win it, but things happened and we had a couple of bad sticks. The most important thing is we scored points for the team. This is my first All-America. It feels good, but I'm a little disappointed because we could have done better. I'm proud of my teammates because we came through, and hopefully it will carry on to tonight and tomorrow so we can get the team trophy."
With the team even with the competition heading into the third leg, the handoff between Sales and Moore was less than ideal as Moore had to look back twice for the baton, slowing his momentum before recovering to battle Florida and LSU. Ngwigwa then ran anchor as the two-time All-American did his best to hold off the field before the Gamecocks placed fifth.
"All I wanted was to get in the top three," Ngwigwa said. "The most important thing was to maintain my position to the line and get us to fifth place."
"It could have been a lot better," Moore said. "The leg itself was fine but the handoff was horrible. I left a little early. It's the lane we had back in the SEC Championships, but Sales and I will get it down next year. We're bringing the whole team back next year. I just praise God for this opportunity."
In the 110m hurdles semifinals, Jason Richardson lived up to his promise yesterday as the reining national champion yet again won his heat and ran the fastest time of the day to qualify for Saturday's final. The senior edged Bethune-Cookman's Ronnie Ash by .01 seconds, coming in at 13.45. Teammate Booker Nunley ran into trouble at the start of his heat but rebounded to qualify for
Junior Brandi Cross was deprived of her chance to earn All-America honors in the 400m dash after getting disqualified with a false start in the first heat of the semifinals. The six-time All-American placed sixth in the event last year. She will get a chance to compete tomorrow as a member of the 4x400m relay team.
"I was getting ready to jump right at the gun and I (flinched)," Cross said after the false start.
Competition will conclude Saturday beginning with the men's discus finals at 10 a.m. Richardson and Nunley will compete in the 110-meter hurdles final at 12:59 p.m., and the men's and women's mile relay teams will finish the meet beginning at 1:35 p.m. (CT).
FROM:
http://gamecocksonline.cstv.com/
