Cross Country Fills Roster for 2014 Season
July 3, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina assistant track coach in charge of cross country Andrew Allden spent all year working to strengthen the Gamecock women’s distance corps, signing Emily Harding (Sarasota, Florida/HS), Allie Sprague (Marengo, Illinois/HS) and Sequoia Brown (Greenville, South Carolina/J.L. Mann HS), a part of 13 new additions to the roster for 2014.
Two of the top runners from Florida in Harding and Hannah Giangaspro (St. John’s, Florida/Bartram Trail HS) join the roster. Harding ranked 28th in the country in the 1600m at 4:51.61 outdoors, winning both the 800m and 1600m in the FHSAA 3A outdoor track state meet, while Giangaspro claimed third in the 3200m (11:04.58). In the FHSAA 3A Cross Country State Finals, Giangaspro took seventh (18:41.40) and Harding 14th (18:57.66), with Harding lowered her best 5K time to 18:48 during the Foot Locker South Regional in Charlotte
Three members of the class hail from Illinois, led by Sprague. Her top three-mile cross country time of 17:48 came during her junior year, while she claimed 25th in the IHSA 2A Cross Country Championship this fall. In outdoor track, she finished fourth in the state in consecutive years in the 800m and second in the 1600m once in 5:07.19. Also hailing from the Land of Lincoln is Kaylee Wessel (St. Charles, Illinois/HS) and Monica York (DeKalb, Illinois/HS). Wessel posted her best cross country time of 18:05.1 as a junior. York posted a best time on the course this season of 18:47.7, while her top time of 18:41 came in 2011.
Caitlin Potter (Lincolnton, North Carolina/North Lincoln HS) and Anna McElrath (Mint Hill, North Carolina/Independence HS) both come from North Carolina, with Potter placing ninth in this year’s NCHSAA 3A State Championship with her 18:36 time. Potter duplicated that time in the Foot Locker South Regional, good for a 79th-place showing. Indoors, Potter ranked third in the 1000m in 3A at 3:05.66, while she stood fourth in the outdoor 800m (2:18.02). McElrath has a top 5K time on the course of 18:57 at the Wendy’s Invitational, and she’s finished as high as seventh in the state’s outdoor 1600m competition in her career.
Hannah Frazier (Virginia Beach, Virginia/Bishop Sullivan HS) leads the way for the duo coming to Columbia from Virginia. Frazier has won numerous 5K cross country events, including the Virginia Independent Schools State Meet crown in 2010. This spring, Frazier finished second in the 800m at the Virginia Catholic Schools State Title. Also from Virginia is Helena Harding (Roanoke, Virginia/Hidden Valley HS), who has two top-75 finishes in the Nike Cross Southeast Regional to her credit, including her top career 5K time of 19:14 in 2011. In the spring of 2014, Harding finished sixth in the VHSL Group 3A Indoor 800m race.
Two South Carolina natives will join the roster as well in Brown and Ashley Hrubala (Spartanburg, South Carolina/Dorman HS). Brown finished 43rd in the 2012 SCHSL 4A Cross Country Championships and improved to 25th during her senior campaign, posting a time of 19:24 during the regular season. Brown also took second in the state’s 4A 800m race with a 2:19.06 time, the fastest senior in the event. Hrubala, a second-generation Gamecock, took fifth in 2012 4A cross country meet. Her father Ron played golf at South Carolina, earning 1986 first-team All-Metro Conference honors while helping the 1988 squad post the best finish in program history at the NCAA Championships.
The final two additions come from the mid-Atlantic region, an area that has giving the Gamecocks three of their best runners over the past two years. Regina Schreiber (Gaithersburg, Maryland/Quince Orchard HS) took 12th and 19th in the last two Maryland 4A Cross Country Championships. She also claimed 92nd in the Nike Cross Southeast Regionals while posting a season-best 5K time of 19:23.8 in her regional race last fall. Sarah Taylor (Pottstown, Pennsylvania/Owen J. Roberts HS) rounds out the class, coming in with top times of 19:24 in 5K cross country races and 5:18.45 in 1600m in outdoor track. She claimed six top-10 showings in Pioneer Athletic Conference Championships in track in her four years.
The 2013 team lost two of its scorers from the SEC Championships team, including top runner Meredith Mill, but the team returns SEC All-Freshman Team member Mary Reiser as well as returning 2012 all-region runner Kayla Lampe, who missed the 2013 season due to injury.
