Sept. 17, 2005

Rock Hill, S.C. – The South Carolina cross country squad brought home their third straight top five finish, ending up third at Saturday’s Winthrop/Asics Cross Country Invitational. Senior Shay Shelton (11th place, 20:28) and sophomore Julie Reale (13th, 20:37) paced the Gamecocks in Rock Hill, S.C.

Five USC runners placed in the top 20, while four other Gamecocks finished in the next 10, putting a total of nine Carolina athletes in the meet’s top 30, while no Gamecock wound up further than four minutes behind the leader.

USC Cross Country Coach Stan Rosenthal on the meet:

“I was pleased with the effort, particularly with that of Shay Shelton and Julie Reale, who both ran season-best times. The times were slow, but certainly not reflective of the effort put out, mainly because of the course being slow, especially with the heat factor. This was a “B” team race and the “A” team is resting up for the Great American next weekend since we will be up against a lot of nationally ranked teams, so we’ve certainly got our work cut out for us. I wanted to give everyone else a chance to race and they did an excellent job competing.”

High Point took home first place at Saturday’s meet with 34 points, while Winthrop took second (32 points), and USC compiled 27 points for third place. Complete race results can be found at Winthrop’s official website, www.winthropeagles.com.

The Gamecocks return to action next Saturday at the Great American Cross Country meet in Cary, N.C. The meet begins at 10 a.m. and www.uscsports.com will have complete post-race coverage of the team’s performance.