Oct. 29, 2005

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina cross country had their best performance of the season in the 2005 SEC Cross Country Championship, hosted by the Gamecocks at Hilton Field on Fort Jackson in Columbia on Saturday, October 29th.

The Gamecocks competed against 11 other SEC schools, including nationally Arkansas (18), two-time defending champion Tennessee (21) and Georgia (18). For the second consecutive year the women’s championship title was decided by less than five points. With another remarkable performance, the Tennessee Vols claimed the title with 48 points, just three points less than Arkansas who finished runner-up with a score of 51. Georgia finished third at 87 points.

While the Gamecocks finished 11th in the 6K with an average time of 22:32.59, the top seven South Carolina runners set personal best performances and walked away from the competition pleased with their efforts.

“I just had fun today,” said USC top runner sophomore Rebecca Chain. “I just went out there and tried to do the best that I could and be tough. I didn’t even realize how fast I was going until I saw the times.”

Claiming the title for the women’s competition was defending SEC Champion Angela Homan, of Auburn. Homan took the lead early in the competition, remaining ahead of the pack since the one mile marker. The senior Tiger ran 19:40.00 for the first place finish and her third consecutive SEC title.

Chain finished the competition in 45th place with a personal best of 21.44. Not too far behind was senior Shay Shelton, who ran a personal best of 22.12 for 60th. Also finishing for the Gamecocks were junior Nicki Breves with a time of 22:27 for a 68th-place finish, freshman Anna Petrov in 81st (22:55) and freshman Megan Robers in 88th (23:22). Freshmen Theresa Verostek, Kelsey Bristol and Laura Regensburg ran together finishing in 92nd (23:30) 93rd (23:36) and 94th (23:39) places, while freshmen Alyse Shayer and sophomore Jessica Smith ended the Gamecock pack in 96th (23:55) and 97th (24:12) places. The Gamecocks totaled 311 points, finishing ahead of Ole Miss.

“We raced hard and our top seven runners all had personal bests today,” said USC Cross Country Coach Stan Rosenthal. “We just have to keep training hard and get ready for NCAA regionals and track season.”

Arkansas’ men’s team, currently ranked No. 1 in the nation, won their 32nd consecutive conference title with a total of 23 points in the men’s 8K. Razorback Josphat Boit won his second consecutive title with a time of 22:59, while two other Arkansas runners finished in the top four, Shawn Forrest in third place (23:03) and Kenny Cormier in fourth (23.11).

The Gamecocks will be preparing next week for the NCAA East Regional Championship scheduled for November 12th in Greenville, N.C. Results from Saturday’s SEC Championship are available at www.uscsports.com.