Coker Cross Country Opens Season with Third and Fourth Place Finishes

by Christian Stryker, SID Coker College

Columbia, S.C. – The Coker men’s and women’s cross country teams opened the 2009 season at the Gamecock Invitational at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. on Friday afternoon. The Lady Cobras finished third behind the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and USC-Aiken in the 5k event, while the men placed fourth in the 8k event behind SCAD, Benedict College and USC- Beaufort.

Senior Dana Daves (York, S.C.) led the Lady Cobras with a ninth place finish with a time of 21:23, followed by freshman Samantha Fletcher (Pompton Lakes, N.J.) with an 11th place finish at a time of 22:35. Alex Ochoa (Pamplico, S.C.), Caitlin Driscoll (Grand Island, N.Y.) and Aliese Gregory (Aiken, S.C.) rounded out the Lady Cobras runners with 14th, 15th and 16th place finished at times of 23:38, 23:47 and 24:16 respectively.

The Cobra men were led by freshman Britain Tomlinson (Rock Hill, S.C.) with an 11th place finish and a time of 18:00, he was followed by fellow classmate Quinn Wegner (Sumter, S.C.) with a 14th place finish at 19:14. Thad Sulek (Hilton Head, S.C.)  came in at 20:04 for a 19th place finish with Austin McJunkin (Walhalla, S.C.) and Andrew Caputa (Germany) both placing in the top 25 with times of 21:16 and 21:40 respectively.

The Coker runners will now prepare for their next race in a week’s time when they travel to Wingate University for the Southeast Pre-Region meet on Sept. 12.