Aug. 29, 2006

The South Carolina Cross Country team will open its 2006 season at the USC Cross Country Invitational on Friday, Sept. 1 at Hilton Field in Fort Jackson (Columbia, S.C). The meet, which is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. with the men’s race followed by the women’s race at 7 p.m., features 10 schools from last year’s field, along with two newcomers. The meet is free of charge and fans can enter through Gate 2 at Fort Jackson.

The returning schools include UNC-Pembroke, South Carolina State, Georgia Southern, Coker College, Charleston Southern, College of Charleston, Francis Marion and The Citadel, along with USC and in-state rival Clemson. The lone newcomers to this year’s field are Mercer and USC-Aiken.

USC cross country coach Stan Rosenthal expects to field a competitive team this season after returning eight of the top 10 runners from the 2005 team. With the conclusion of preseason practice on Tues., Aug. 29, Rosenthal looks forward to competing against other schools.

“They’ve ran in preseason practice against each other for three weeks,” Rosenthal said. “At this point, it’s similar to football at the end of preseason practice when they say `We’re ready to go just go out there and hit somebody.’ This team is ready to run, and they’re ready to run fast.”

Carolina will be looking towards Rebecca Chain, junior Karen Wigal and newcomer Casey Gale to lead them to a successful 2006 campaign.

Gale, a transfer from Charleston Southern, also fared well in last season’s USC Invitational, finishing in eighth place overall as the top runner for the Buccaneers. The sophomore from Pickens, S.C., is pushing for a top-three spot after winning a time trial in practice last week.

The Gamecocks are looking to avenge a second-place finish last year in which in-state rival Clemson edged them by two points to take the season-opening event. The Gamecocks were then paced by Chain and Alyse Shayer, who placed third and sixth respectively.

After the USC Invitational, Carolina will head to Clemson on Sept. 9 for the Clemson Invitational.