Sept. 3, 2010

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina junior Beatrice Biwott notched a first-place finish overall at Friday’s South Carolina Invitational, leading the Gamecocks to a third-place team finish in teh 2010 cross country season opener.

ACC rival Clemson took home the overall team title, placing three runners in the top-eight en route to scoring 38 points. Coastal Carolina, which boasted four runners in the top-10, scored 41 points to narrowly edge South Carolina, who tallied 43 points on the day.

The Gamecock women were paced be junior Beatrice Biwott, who finished first overall with a time of 17:58.70 to easily outdistance the runner-up, Elyse Borisko from Clemson. Biwott, who held stride with the lead pack for the opening mile of the race, took the lead for good at the mile and a half mark over a group of runners from Clemson and Coastal Carolina. She steadily opened a 30-meter gap at the two mile mark. Over the last mile the gap continued to widen to the final 50-meter margin

Freshman Liz Locke was the next finisher for the Gamecocks, placing ninth overall with a time of 18:28.72. Her time was a 42 second PR. Locke went out with Biwott in the opening pack. At the one-mile mark, she made a rookie mistake and surged into the lead, which she held for the next 800 meters. The surge took its toll later in the race as Locke faded to ninth place overall.

“I am happy that Liz had such a huge PR,” South Carolina head coach Stan Rosenthal said. “If she had been more patient and followed the lead pack instead of taking the lead so early, she would have been even faster tonight.”

After Locke, a trio of Gamecocks posted top-15 finishes including Nicole Rheinlander, Ashley Evens and Penny Boswell. Rheinlander and Evens took home the 11th and 12th positions after steadily running in Carolina’s top four throughout the course. Boswell took 15th and was followed by freshman Scola Jepngetich, who ran out early and battled before taking 17th overall.

“Scola went out in front of Beatrice Biwott during the first part of the race,” Rosenthal said. “This really affected her the last two miles, as she slowly dropped her team placing. She will do much better at our next race, having had tonight’s race experience. In practice she has been with Locke, Rheinlander and Evens.”

“I was really pleased with Nicole Rheinlander and Penny Boswell,” Rosenthal added. “Next to Beatrice, they had the best races tonight. They stuck to the race plan and fought hard to move up the last half of the race. Nicole had a PR of 24 seconds. She also improved almost a minute from last’s years Gamecock Invite. I am very proud of Ashley. She really struggled tonight. What was great was how hard she fought to get in the top 10. It is easy to race well on a good day. It is difficult to race hard on a day you feel bad. Even though her time was not her best, her effort was.”