Sept. 2, 2011

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina cross country team had four runners finish in the top five to lead the Gamecocks to a season-opening victory in the Gamecock Invitational on Friday at Hilton Field in Fort Jackson.

The Gamecocks, who placed nine runners in the top 15, scored 23 points on the night to finish comfortably ahead of Coastal Carolina, which took second place with 51 points. Georgia Southern claimed third with 73 points.

“I was very happy. We did a good job of keeping our front pack together and our back pack together, which was important,” said South Carolina head coach Stan Rosenthal, who had eight runners set PRs in the meet. “It was very hot today, so the times were a little slower, but it was a really good race in terms of how the team performed and fought the last part of the race.”

Sophomore Penny Boswell paced the Gamecocks with a second-place finish as she crossed the finish line with a PR of 18:38.93. Boswell seemed to be on her way to winning the meet after pushing out in front of the lead pack after the second mile, but Coastal Carolina’s Emily Marchini raced past three runners down the stretch, including Boswell, to take the lead in the final 50 meters and claim first place.

“Sometimes you run good and someone is just faster than you at the end,” Rosenthal said. “The Coastal (Carolina) girl obviously had a great finish because she passed three people over the last 300 meters or so. There’s not much you can do about that. Sometimes you run great and someone just runs better.”

Sophomore Scola Jepngetich, senior Nicole Rheinlander and sophomore Liz Locke weren’t far behind Boswell, as they all turned in stellar performances for the Gamecocks. Jepngetich finished third with a time of 18:48.27, while Rheinlander was right on Jepngetich’s heels in fourth place with a time of 18:52.10. Locke rounded out the top five with a mark of 18:57.71.

The Gamecocks received a huge boost from their back pack, as nine of the next 15 runners to cross the finish line were wearing garnet and black. Senior Sara Hartley (ninth, 19:22.02), freshman Alex Mullin (10th, 19:25.15), junior Megan Rother (13th, 19:37.75), freshman Sarah Pelligrini (14th, 19:40.85) and sophomore Kelly Newcomb (15th, 19:43.80) all finished in the top 15 for South Carolina.

South Carolina returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 17 in the Winthrop Invitational.