Oct. 4, 2014

Women’s Gold 6K Results | Women’s Open 6K Results

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After winning its first three meets of the season, the South Carolina cross country team stepped up its competition this week, competing in the 41st Annual Paul Short Run at the Lehigh Cross Country Course. The Gamecocks placed 19th overall with 576 points in the Women’s Gold 6K, which featured more than 20 teams that ranked in the top 15 of their regions.

Anna Todd continued to lead Carolina as she recorded the fifth-fastest 6K time in program history at 21:02. The junior from Spartanburg, S.C., was the Gamecocks’ lone finisher in the top 100, as she placed 35th.

Sophomore Mary Reiser was the Gamecocks’ second finisher, clocking a time of 21:47, crossing the line 110th overall. Junior Stephanie Berger was seven seconds behind Reiser, finishing 121st overall.

Carolina’s other scorers on the day were junior Christine Kent (165th, 22:14), redshirt freshman Meri Heneage (185th, 22:21), and true freshmen Hannah Giangaspro (201st, 22:29) and Allie Sprague (217th, 22:37).

University of Guelph from Ontario won the meet with 48 points. No. 5 Georgetown was second with 127 points, and was followed by No. 6 Florida State with 145 points. The field featured 38 teams with 329 athletes finishing the race.

In the Women’s Open 6K, which saw 402 runners finish the race, redshirt junior Kayla Lampe returned from injury to finish 34th, clocking a time of 22:24. Also, competing in the race was freshman Monica York who finished 22 seconds behind her teammate in 54th place.

Meet Changer:
Junior Anna Todd led the Gamecocks for the third-straight meet, finishing nearly a minute faster than she did a week ago at the Charlotte Invitational.

Key Stat:
Ten of the team’s 12 runners that competed in the meet set personal best times.

Notables:
• Anna Todd recorded the fifth fastest 6K time in school history, shaving 56 seconds off of her personal best, which she set a week ago at the Charlotte Invitational.
• Carolina had seven runners finish with times under 22:30, including redshirt junior Kayla Lampe who was returning from injury.
•Three Gamecocks ran sub-22-minute times, and 11 of the 12 finished with times under 23 minutes.

Quotable:
South Carolina Assistant Coach for Distance and Cross Country Andrew Allden
On the meet overall
“I was very pleased with our result today. Going in, I was hoping that we would finish in the top 20 and we accomplished that. We were also able to defeat some teams that are ranked respectably in their regions.”

“To have seven people under 22:30, including Kayla [Lampe] in the open race, I think that bodes well. It was nice to see Kayla return to action and we’ll hope that she continues to progress nicely as the season moves along.”

On competing at a national meet
“We wanted to compete in what is a national meet, one that is a 300-400 quality runner race, with what is still a very young team. It can be tough for the freshmen, but I think they ran solid, but with the upperclassmen having the experience of running in them before, they handled it just a little bit better.”

On junior Anna Todd’s performance
“Anna [Todd] had the standout performance of the day. She finished with the fifth-fastest time in school history and the only people ahead of her [at South Carolina] all finished in the top 15 when they ran at the SEC Championship so she’s definitely on the right track.”

Up Next:
South Carolina will host its third, and final home meet of the season, the USC Open #2 on Wed., Oct. 8. The two-mile race will begin at 6 p.m., ET at Hilton Field on Fort Jackson.