Oct. 11, 2008

On a warm, humid morning, the Gamecocks raced 45 teams from around the United States and Canada. As is her habit, freshman Beatrice Biwott was the early race leader in the sprint start. Eventual race runner-up, Stephanie Aldea from the University of Houston, shot into a large lead over the field after 300 meters. Biwott led the chase pack of 10 runners.

Junior Danielle Barnes and sophomore Ashley Evens also raced into the front of the field in the top 35 in front of the stampede of racers. The rest of the Gamecocks were farther back and would have to spend the next three miles passing their competitors for the team to place high.

Biwott fought hard the entire race, finishing in a PR of 17:59 for the 5K, placing seventh. Barnes moved up, finishing 22nd with a season’s best time of 18:36. Evens placed 40th with a time of 18:57. Three freshmen, Erin Fedewa, Elizabeth Heath and Shannon Walls, passed well over 100 runners, placing 66th, 67th and 89th, respectively. Fedewa and Heath had season best times of 19:25 and 19:26.

When the dust had settled, UAB won the team title with 82 points. Canadian University of Windsor had 107 and South Florida finished third with 110. South Carolina placed seventh with 191 points. Dana Mecke of UTSA took home the individual title finishing with a time of 17:18.

“For Beatrice today, Disney World was the happiest place on earth,” head coach Stan Rosenthal said. “I am really pleased with her progress. Seventh place as a team is disappointing. The women worked hard all race, but our start really hurt us today. With the muddy dirt road through the woods and the number of racers in front of most of the team, it was difficult to pass and place where we needed to be to earn the team finish we expected. It was a good effort, however, we will need to fight better in the middle to compete in the SEC meet and the NCAA-Preview meet next week.”