Hensler, Wilson Lead Carolina to Third-Place Finish at Blazer Classic
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s cross country competed in its second meet of the 2020 season at the UAB Blazer Classic, finishing in third in the 6000m ‘Gold’ race. The Gamecocks had four top 20 finishers and finished in front of Arkansas State and Auburn who rounded out the top five.
Heather Stone was Carolina’s top individual finisher, finishing in 10th with a time of 21:30.21 while running among the top group for a majority of the race. Just behind Stone was three other Gamecocks in the next nine positions. Fellow senior captain Brooke Wilson crossed the finish line at 21:44.81 in 13th while Rachel Hensler’s 16th-place finish at 21:59.68 secured 6K personal records for them both.
“We had some outstanding performances from our two, three and four runners today,” Cross Country coach Andrew Allden said. “Brooke Wilson had a tremendous run for us with a lifetime PR and Rachel Hensler followed up her really great race last time out and had another PR breaking 22 minutes.”
“I think everyone did a great job of just competing today,” Wilson said. “If you look at the results, we just finished one point ahead of fourth, just two points ahead of fifth and just three points ahead of sixth which shows that we came out here and really laid it all out there. Every person and every point counted today to get this result.”
Coming in 19th was freshman Hope Dominique who completed her first collegiate 6K. Her time of 22:07.72 was fourth on the team and cemented the Gamecocks in the top five as a team.
“Hope running right at 22 minutes today as a freshman in her first 6K is just awesome,” Allden added. “Our two through four runners really stepped up and competed well in the middle of the race and what really helped get us into that third-place finish.”
“I felt pretty good today,” Dominique said after the race. “Throughout the race I was just thinking about not holding back and just because it is a 6K doesn’t mean I should save it up for the end. That was something I wanted to work on after the last meet. I often feel like I have a little more left in the tank so I thought I might as well go hard throughout today’s race.”
Rounding out Carolina’s scorers was sophomore Savannah Bowers who finished in 62nd in a time of 23:35.93 with junior Kira Jenkins right behind her at 23:38.60.
Two Gamecock freshmen made their debuts at the Blazer Classic. Katerina Hendrix finished in 67th with a time of 23:47.27 in her first collegiate 6K while Claudi Satzke finished in 86th with a time of 24:45.91.
Among the remaining Gamecocks Hannah Cella finished in 70th at 23:57.72, Kathleen Abrams in 75th at 24:04.71, Sarah Riser in 82nd at 24:31.56 and Isabella Pisani in 87th at 24:52.69.
The Gamecocks will have two weeks before the 2020 SEC Cross Country Championships on Oct. 30, in Baton Rouge.
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