Oct. 3, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Coming off of three-straight wins to open the season, the South Carolina cross country team is back on the road Saturday as the squad travels to Bethlehem, Pa., for the 41st Annual Paul Short Run at the Lehigh Cross Country Course. It will be the team’s second 6K race in just over a week.
The meet is one of the largest in the country and is an all day event. This will be the toughest field to date that the Gamecocks will face, and possibly the strongest of the season, with 40-plus teams in the field, and more than 20 which are ranked in the top 15 of their regions. Additionally, three top 15 are in the women’s field in Georgetown (No. 5) Florida State (No. 6), and Villanova (No. 13).
The Gamecocks will have 12 runners in the field, (Stephanie Berger, Hannah Giangaspro, Emily Harding, Meri Heneage, Christine Kent, Kayla Lampe, Ashley Miller, Caitlin Potter, Mary Reiser, Allie Sprague, Anna Todd, Monica York) Ten will run in the Gold 6K, while two others who will run in the Open 6K, including junior Kayla Lampe who is returning from injury.
MEET INFO:
Date: Sat., Oct. 4, 2014
Start Time: 10 a.m., ET
Location: Bethlehem, Pa.,
Facility: Lehigh Cross Country Course
Results: Results
Video: Live Video
Meet Notes 
SUCCESSFUL START
With South Carolina’s win on Sept. 26 at the Charlotte Invitational, the Gamecocks won their third-straight meet for the first time during the 2000s.
TWICE IS NICE
With her individual win at the Charlotte Invitational, junior Anna Todd grabbed her second win in as many meets after sitting out South Carolina’s first meet of the season. In the process of the win, Todd set a personal best in the 6K with a time of 21:58.9.
EXPERIENCE RISING TO THE TOP
With 15 freshman, 13 being true freshmen, on this year’s roster, several of the team’s most experienced runners have been stepping up this season. Todd and fellow junior Stephanie Berger have accounted for the team’s three individual wins. The two, along with junior Christine Kent and sophomore Mary Reiser have not finished outside of the top eight in any of Carolina’s three meets this season.
15
Although Carolina has won its opening two meets several times since 2000, one thing the team has not done until this season is score a perfect 15 points in each of its opening wins.
REGIONALLY RANKED
The team, which returned the majority of its runners from last season when it finished 14th at the Southeast Regional, is currently ranked 15th in the Southeast Region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
SEEING GARNET IN THE FRONT
In its opening two meets, South Carolina runners have continuously finished one after another. At the Gamecock Invitational, Carolina went 1-9 and placed 13 runners in the top 15. Two weeks later, at the USC Open #1, the Gamecocks had 17 racers finish in the top 20.
BERGER GETS FIRST WIN
At the opening meet of the season, the Carolina Invitational, Berger earned the first win of her Gamecock career. The West Salem, Ohio, native clocked in at 19:00.65, to lead a pack of eight Gamecocks, as Carolina finished 1-9.
STARTING FAST
The win at the Carolina Invitational marked the third time in the last four years that South Carolina claimed a win in its season-opening meet.
FRESHMEN STEPPING UP
Of the eight freshmen that competed for the Gamecocks in the opening meet, six being true freshmen, all eight finished in the top 15. True freshman Allie Sprague was the top finisher of the group, claiming second with a time of 19:14.26. Two weeks later, the Gamecocks again placed eight freshmen in the top 15, with seven being true freshmen. Hannah Giangaspro led the group with a third-place finish with a time of 18:50.46. She was one of four runners with a sub-19-minute time.
REISER LEADING THE WAY
Reiser is the team’s top returner, after becoming the third freshman from South Carolina to be named to the conference’s All-Freshman Team in the last six years, as she placed 33rd at the SEC Championships in 2013. Reiser set the fifth-fastest 5K time in school history at the Royal Cross Country Challenge at 17:39.0 and finished in the top 30 at the NCAA Southeast Regional.
SEC PRESEASON WATCH LIST
Joining Reiser on this year’s SEC Cross Country Preseason Watch List is Lampe, who did not compete during the 2013 season due to injury and has been hampered by another throughout the summer. The redshirt junior garnered SEC All-Freshman Team honors in 2012 and Second-Team All-SEC accolades with a 13th-place showing at the SEC Championships (21:02.30). Later that season, she earned All-Southeast Region honors, finishing eighth with a time of 20:40.43, which is the fastest 6K time in South Carolina history.
RETURNING EXPERIENCE
Despite losing their top runner from a season ago, the Gamecocks return their next six runners in Reiser (sophomore), Todd (junior), Berger (junior), Kent (junior), Martha McCoy (sophomore), along with the possibility of Lampe (junior).
FRESHMAN CLASS
Coach Allden has considered this year’s freshman class “top-to-bottom to be one of the strongest recruiting classes [the program] has had.” Leading the group of 13 are Florida natives Giangaspro, a top 3200-meter runner in the state, and Harding, who posted a Top 30 nationally in the 1600 meters in 2013. Outside of Florida, the freshman class hails from the Carolinas, the Mid-Atlantic region and Illinois.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
With 27 athletes on the 2014 roster, the Gamecocks have 13 new faces on the team this fall that mix in with six others who joined the program last year, meaning 70 percent of the team has only been at South Carolina for a year or less.
LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE
The Gamecocks are led by second-year coach Andrew Allden as assistant track coach in charge of distance and cross country, who reunited last year with head track and field coach Curtis Frye after 12 years away from Columbia. Allden brings 28 years of coaching experience to the Gamecocks in regards to training.
UP NEXT
The Gamecocks host their final meet of the season on Oct. 8, the USC Open #2, a two-mile race at Hilton Head on Fort Jackson. The women’s race will start at 6 p.m., with the men’s race to follow at 6:30.
