COLUMBIA, S.C. - Paced by sophomores Steven Holmes and Kelly May, the Francis Marion University men's and women's cross country teams finished 8th and 12th respectively at the Gamecock Invitational, held Friday (Sept. 1) at Fort Jackson's Hilton Field.
Elon University finished atop the men's team standings with 33 points, while the Patriots were eighth with a 203 score. Among non-Division I schools, Francis Marion finished third out of five.
Holmes finished the 5,000-meter race in a time of 16:46 which was good for 27th place. Other Patriot finishers were Patrick Hopewell in 31st position (17:05), Dan Brann in 36th (17:22), Ariel Ortiz in 56th (19:21), Jacob Williams in 58th (19:32), and T.J. Simmons in 70th (21:39).
USC tallied 38 points to win the women's event, while the Francis Marion women placed 12th with a 342 score. FMU placed fourth among six non-Division I schools.
May posted a personal-best time of 20:01 over the 5,000-meter course, good for 49th place. Codi Knoch finished 85th in a time of 21:42, while Amanda Doyle was 101st (22:32), Megan Coy was 103rd (22:42), Holly Todd was 117th (25:15), Liz Calixto was 125th (26:15), and Sara Parry was 126th (27:16).
William Wilson of The Citadel won the men's race in a time of 15:47. Running in her first race with the USC cross country team, sophomore Casey Gale ran a personal best by 45 seconds (18:31) to pace the Gamecocks' to their first win at their own invitational since 2003. Anna Mae Flynn of Elon won the women's race in a time of 18:30, one second ahead of Gale.
Both Francis Marion squads will compete in the UNC Pembroke Invitational Meet, next Saturday morning in Lumberton, N.C.
