Four South Carolina athletes earned All-South Eastern Conference honours for the 2013 outdoor season, the conference office announced recently.
Senior Kierre Beckles and junior Jeannelle Scheper from St Lucia earned Second Team All-SEC spots while freshmen hurdlers Jermaine Collier and Tyler Brockington collected SEC All-Freshman nods.
Beckles turned in the top qualifying time in the preliminary round of the 100-meter hurdles at 13.10 at the 2013 SEC Outdoor Championships. The time was just off her season-best of 13.09. The next day, Beckles clocked in at 13.11 to take the SEC silver, duplicating her 2011 finish. Next weekend, Beckles, who holds the best finish in school history at NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100-meter hurdles, will attempt to book at trip to Eugene, Ore.
Continuing to add to her resume as the finest high jumper in South Carolina history, Scheper added an SEC Outdoor silver medal to her haul. Scheper advanced to the final bar, but defaulted the gold on misses. She finished her day with a clearance of 6’0” (1.85m). The recognition is the school-record holder’s second All-SEC team of the season, after receiving first-team honours for the indoor season after her SEC gold medal. Scheper enters the East Preliminary round as the top-ranked high jumper in the East.
Collier recorded a new personal best in the preliminary round of the 110-meter hurdles, clocking in at 14.06 to advance to the finals on time. In the final, Collier turned in a 14.39 to finish fifth. He also set a new personal record in the 400-meter hurdles with a 51.91. Collier finished third in the final of that event. The freshman was one of only two to race in both hurdle finals at the SEC Championships and will compete in both events at the NCAA East Preliminary next weekend.
Brockington made a major splash at her first SEC Outdoor Championship, shaving two seconds off her PR in the preliminary round of the 400-meter hurdles to finish in 58.52. In the finals, she was running with the leader before being tripped up on the next to last hurdle. She was the lone freshman to make the finals in the 400-meter hurdles and enters next weekend’s preliminary round with the 20th best time in the East.
The winner in each event, including relays, earns first-team All-SEC recognition; the second-place finisher in each event, including relays, earns second-team All-SEC recognition, and the top freshman finisher in each event, excluding relays, earns SEC All-Freshman Team recognition.
All four Gamecocks will travel to Greensboro, N.C., next weekend for the NCAA East Preliminary Round. The top 48 in each event (24 for relays) advances to the preliminary round with the top 12 advancing to Eugene, Ore., for the 2013 NCAA Outdoor Championships. The East Preliminary is scheduled for May 23-25 with the NCAA Outdoor Championships slated for June 5-8.
