Nov. 13, 2013

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina cross country team takes on one more course this fall, racing against 41 other teams in Friday’s NCAA Southeast Regional hosted by the University of Virginia.

The Gamecocks, coming off of a 12th-place showing in the Southeastern Conference Championships, have improved throughout the fall, progressing under the tutelage of assistant track coach in charge of distance and cross country Andrew Allden. The latest test comes on the Panorama Farms 6K course outside of Charlottesville, Va.

Leading the team all fall, junior Meredith Mill, who graduates in December, lines up for possibly the last time with her teammates on Friday. The Ellicott City, Md., native has a second chance to earn an honor with this weekend’s race, as the top 25 individual finishers take home All-Region accolades. Any improvement on her time of 20:57.38 at the SEC Championships would make her just the second Gamecock in history with two sub-21-minute 6Ks on record.

Also chasing history will be freshman Mary Reiser, who earned SEC All-Freshman Team honors two weeks ago. The Gamecocks’ second finisher in almost every race, Reiser has continued shaving time off her previous bests. Back-to-back 33rd-place showings in the Indiana State Pre-National Invitational and SEC’s have her confidence rising at the right time.

Senior Penny Boswell joins Mill in what will be her last collegiate cross country race. She posted her best time of the year at SEC’s and continues to push the team’s score lower with her improvements. Sophomores Anna Todd and Stephanie Berger have also been in the top five most of the year, with both looking to get back to their showings from Indiana State, when both broke 23 minutes.

Sophomore Christine Kent and freshman Martha McCoy round out the projected lineup in Charlottesville, both of whom want to sneak under the 23-minute mark this weekend.

The women’s race begins at 1:15 p.m. EST at Panorama Farms. FlashResults.com will have the times and places afterwards.