Chelsea France

France is a transfer from the University of Virginia and will be earning her master[apos]s degree in South Carolina[apos]s top-ranked sports and entertainment management program. She is coming off a solid year of running in which she ran several PRs in both cross country and track. Last year France was a scorer for the team at the NCAA Southeastern Regional Championships with a time of 21:26 for 6K that contributed to the team[apos]s overall first place finish and led to a berth in the NCAA Championships. During track she made her first attempt at the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a time of 10:50.5 in addition to completing her track season with an unattached 5k with a time of 16:23. While at Virginia, France was an All-ACC Academic Team athlete.

In high school France was a five-time state qualifier, three-time All-Region and five-time All-Ohio Academic Team. She was also a six-time All-District and All-Conference athlete at Dublin Coffman High School where she was coached by James Ferguson, Jill Miller and Rod Zody. She was also a National Honor Society Member and very active in community service. One of her main positions was being a board member of the Central Ohio March of Dimes.

France is returning to her native state where she was born in Sumter. She is the daughter of James and Angela France where her father is also a former Gamecock. She has one younger sister, Courtney France, who is also a current student at South Carolina. She will also be serving as a marketing intern for the South Carolina Athletics Department for the 2012-2013 school year.