Sept. 30, 2006

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Auburn, Ala. – The South Carolina women’s cross country team finished 10^th with 249 points at the Auburn Invitational on Saturday and topped SEC rival Ole Miss after sophomore Casey Gale turned in the team’s first sub-18 minute performance of the season.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

“Casey Gale had a good race for us,” Coach Stan Rosenthal said. “She was in 15^th place at the two mile mark and really did a great job. She was able to start out in the top 30, then worked her way to the 20’s and pushed all the way to 15^th. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to keep that position, but she ran a great race for us.”

Gale led the Gamecocks and finished 23^rd with a time of 17:58.96. <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>Carolina’s top seven finishers were Rebecca Chain (39^th; 18:18), Callie Rabun (57^th; 18:35), Nicki Breves (64^th; 18:46), Lisa McKinney (66^th; 18:48), Laura Regensburg (82^nd; 19:07) and Karen Wigal (91^st; 19:28).

No. 17 Iowa took home the team title convincingly with 16 points, with second place Auburn finishing with 93 points. The Hawkeyes had runners finish in the first four spots, and five of the first six, including overall champion Diane Nukuri (16:10.12). Other SEC finishers include LSU in sixth with 192 points and Ole Miss finished 12^th with 357 points.

“Today just wasn’t a good result for us,” Rosenthal said. “We’ll regroup and continue working hard. We expect to have better results our next time out.”

The Gamecocks return to action in two weeks at the Furman Invitational on October 14 in Greenville, S.C.