Sept. 20, 2008
The South Carolina cross country team claimed an important second place finish at the Asics Winthrop Invitational, finishing in front of Charlotte and Appalachian State, ranked 14th and 15th in the Southeast Region. Three Gamecocks placed in the top 20, with freshman Beatrice Biwott leading the way finishing fifth.
Under nearly perfect weather conditions, South Carolina’s cross country team lined with 16 teams at the Asics Winthrop Invitational. As the race started, the Gamecocks followed head coach Stan Rosenthal’s race plan and went out with the front runners. Leading the field was freshmen Beatrice Biwott, as her habit. She was closely followed by Louisville’s Tarah McKay, plus six others. The Gamecock pack was close behind in the large second pack of 30 racers. Freshman Shannon Walls and sophomore Ashley Evens led this pack. At the first mile of the 5K race, McKay pulled away from Biwott and the others. She continued to lengthen her lead all the way to the end, winning with a time of 17:05, just missing the course record. Biwott was in second place at the 5:39 mark. South Carolina’s pack of Evens, Walls, juniors Danielle Barnes and Lisa McKinney, and freshmen Amanda Smith, Elizabeth Heath and Nicole Rheinlander followed closely behind. The team battle was still very close among Louisville, South Carolina, Davidson and Appalachian State.
At two miles, Biwott had dropped back to seventh while Evens and Barnes had moved into the top 15. Walls was in the top 20, while McKinney and Rheinlander were in the top 30. Louisville, ranked 10th in the Southeast Region, had broken open the team battle and would continue on to the win. Davidson and South Carolina were staging a repeat of their previous race, when South Carolina placed second, five points ahead of Davidson. As the runners sprinted the last half mile, it was still too close to tell who would be claim second place and who would finish third.
Biwott moved up and finished in fifth place, running 18:28 on the hilly 5K course. Evens and Barnes also finished in the top 20. Evens finished in 15th place with a time of 18:48, while Barnes finished 17th with a time of 18:53. Walls finished 31st, while McKinney rounded off the scoring for the Gamecocks, finishing 41st. Rheinlander finished 45th, while freshman Erin Fedewa finished 50th.
When the dust settled, South Carolina had prevailed by the slim margin of one point, 109 to Davidson’s 110, with Appalachian finishing fourth with 118 points. With their second place finish, South Carolina has run its 2008 season record to 27 and two against NCAA D1 opponents.
“I was very happy the way the team went out and raced hard from the start today,” head coach Stan Rosenthal said. “While that made it difficult in the last mile for a couple of the Gamecocks, almost everyone was passing folks on the sprint to the finish line. To beat the top teams in our region was another step in our progress this fall.”
The Gamecocks will have three weeks of hard training before traveling to Orlando, Fla. on Sat., Oct. 10, to compete at the WALT DISNEY WORLD® Cross Country Classic. Last year, the Gamecocks placed sixth out of 44 teams.
