South Carolina women's cross-country team raced in its second meet of its shortened 2020 season at the UAB Blazer Classic in the 6,000-meter "Gold" race. Four of the Gamecocks were top-20 finishers and led the team to a top-three finish behind Clemson and Louisville.
Graduate student and captain Heather Stone was a standout for the Gamecocks. Individually she finished 10th with a time of 21 minutes 30.21 seconds. Following Stone in the next nine positions were senior captains Brooke Wilson, who ran a new lifetime best of 21:44.81 in 13th, and Rachel Hensler, who also set a new PR at 21:59.68 for 16th.
The Blazer Classic also served as a collegiate debut in the 6k for three new Gamecocks.
Freshman Hope Dominique came in at 22:07.72, finishing 19th overall and fourth on the team, and secured the Gamecocks their top-three finish overall.
"I felt pretty good today," Dominique said in an interview with GamecocksOnline. "Throughout the race I was just thinking about not holding back and just because it is a 6K doesn't mean I should save it up for the end. That was something I wanted to work on after the last meet. I often feel like I have a little more left in the tank so I thought I might as well go hard throughout today's race."
Along with her, freshman Katerina Hendrix finished with a time of 23:47.27 in 67th, with freshman Kathleen Abrams following with a time of 24:07.71 in 75th and freshman Claudia Satzke following in 86th with a time of 24:45.91.
Sophomore Hannah Cella opened up her 2020 season by finishing in at 23:57.72 in 70th. The other returning Gamecocks included sophomore Savannah Bowers, who finished at 23:35.93 in 62nd. Behind her, junior Kira Jenkins finished in 63rd at 23:38.60, senior Sarah Riser finished in 82nd at 24:31.56 and sophmore Isabella Pisani finished in 87th at 24:52.69.
This was the team's first and last 6k of the season, with only two weeks before it is set to compete at the 2020 SEC Championship on Oct. 30 in Baton Rouge.