USC
UNLV Invitational
USC Ties For Second At The UNLV Invitational
October 03, 2015 | Women's Cross Country
USC's women's cross country team tied for second place keyed by Katerina Berdousi's runner-up finish individually at the UNLV Invitational held at Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas, Nev. today (Oct. 3).
"The race went well and Kat (Berdousi) coming in second was good," said USC cross country coach David Freeman. "She felt good the whole way and the focus was on finishing the middle part of the race. She is moving in the right direction as we approach the Pac-12 Championships. As a team we are getting better each race. Madison Ricks, Amber Gore, Jenna Tong and Rebekah Ent all ran in a pack. The racing strategy again was focusing on the middle part of the race. We went out a little conservative at the beginning of the race, then went after it in the middle and they hung tough. They now know they can move up in the middle and still finish strong. We are getting ready for the Pac-12s in about four weeks and everyone's mindset is about that and improving as we head to the conference championship."
Berdousi led the Trojans by finishing the 5K-course in a time of 17:54.5, second to San Diego State's Elaine Ribeiro who posted a time of 17:44.7 to help lead the Aztecs to the team title (27 points). USC and Southern Utah tied for second with 61 points scored. Two weeks ago at the Aztec Invitational, Ribeiro won and defeated Berdousi by a minute and 14 seconds, so the Trojan senior showed great progress.
USC's second finisher and 12th overall was redshirt sophomore Rebekah Ent who had a time of 18:37.2. She led a trio of Trojans to the line as senior Jenna Tong was 13th with a time of 18:43.7 and redshirt freshman Madison Ricks was 14th with a time of 18:46.1.
The final scoring Trojan was freshman Amber Gore who placed 20th with a time of 18:58.9. USC's sixth and seventh finishers were also freshmen, with Mikaela Smith taking 26th with a time of 19:13.1 and Lauren Maurer placing 28th with a time of 19:23.2.
Sophomore Amber Bragdon was 33rd with a time of 19:40.4, freshman Rachel Glynn was 35th with a time of 19:48.2 and freshman Taylor Seamans was 36th with a time of 19:53.7.
Players Mentioned
