Equestrian
Nearly three weeks after going 0-2 at the SEC Championship,the third-seeded South Carolina equestrian team will once again complete at the NCEA National Championship this weekend in Waco, Texas.
South Carolina received a first round bye and on Friday, April 17 the Gamecocks will go up against the winner between Fresno State and New Mexico State at 9:30 a.m. ET.
Should the Gamecocks win against either Fresno State or New Mexico State, they will face either Baylor, TCU or Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals of the event.
Over a week ago, five different Gamecocks earned All-America honors from the NCEA,including seniors Katherine Schmidt,Amber Henter, Layla Choate and Sam Chiodo and junior Samantha Smith.
Additionally, it was announced on April 15 that South Carolina leads the country with nine Beval Saddlery Academic First Team selections.
“Our girls take their academics seriously and understand how important it is to make the most out of being a student athlete here at South Carolina,” South Carolina head coach Boo Major said.
Softball
Coming off its second SEC series win of the year, the South Carolina softball team (29-16, 4-11 SEC) hopes to continue its good play this upcoming weekend when traveling on the road to take on Kentucky (27-14, 4-11 SEC) for a three-game series.
The Gamecocks, who won two out of three games last weekend against Arkansas, were supposed to face in-state opponent Coastal Carolina on April 14, but that matchup was postponed due to weather.
South Carolina’s upcoming series against the Wildcats will be the team’s first against Kentucky in over two years.
Both teams are currently tied for 12th place in the SEC.
Track and field
Both the South Carolina men’s and women’s track and field teams are coming off their best performances of the year, as both sides took home team titles from last weekend’s Bill Carson Invite.
The victory was the second of the season for the men’s team and the first one of the year for the women’s team.
In total, South Carolina won 14 different events at the competition which took place in Greenville, North Carolina.
Dondre Echols'10.47 time in the 100-meter dash was the fastest by any Gamecock all season in that particular event.
Meanwhile, sophomore Jussi Kanervo set a new personal best in the 400 hurdles, recording a time of 49.78.
For the women, senior Jeannelle Scheper once again won the high jump for the fourth weekend in a row, edging out her teammate sophomore teammate Nakita Gray by six inches.
Moving forward, the teams will once again compete in the Penn Relays, which take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which begin on April 21.