Aug. 25, 2014

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina cross country team enters the 2014 season ranked No. 15 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s (USTFCCCA) Southeast Region preseason poll, the organization announced today.

“I actually feel like 15th is a pretty fair ranking in the fact that we graduated our number one runner, but we brought in a strong recruiting class,” assistant track & field coach for distance and cross country Andrew Allden said. “I hadn’t gone in thinking that we would be ranked substantially higher than that. It’s a good, solid position for us to move forward from.”

Last season, the Gamecocks finished 14th in the Southeast Region and return all but one of their top seven runners from a year ago. Included in that mix is sophomore Mary Reiser, who became the third Gamecock to earn SEC All-Freshman Team honors in the past six years in 2013. The Annapolis, Md., native was second on the team in six of the seven races in which she competed in and finished 29th overall at the NCAA Southeast Regional at 21:21.3.

“I think [the ranking] is an excellent starting point and I fully expect, if we stay healthy, that we’ll move forward from that and have a chance at cracking the top 10 by the end of the year,” Allden said.

South Carolina was last ranked in the top 10 in 2012. That squad was as high as No. 8 in the region, the program’s highest ranking during the past 13 years.

The Gamecocks will open up their season Aug. 30 as they host the Carolina Invitational at 9 a.m., at Hilton Field on Ft. Jackson.