2008 Woodie Awards
Sports Briefs
Chris Cox
Staff Writer
Issue date: 9/23/08 Section: Sports
Equestrian team rides to season-opening victory
While the South Carolina Gamecocks were busy winning games on the gridiron and soccer fields, some of the school's other sports were busy having successes of their own on the tracks and courts.
On Friday, the Carolina Equestrian team started off its season strong with a 13-4 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats in Blythewood. Leading the way for the Gamecocks was junior Megan Massaro, who received MVP honors in both equitation and equitation over fences. Carolina won both by scores of 5-0 and 4-1, respectively.
The Western team, led by freshman Maggie Fortune and sophomore Hailey Thornton, recorded a 4-3 victory, a hard-earned result after Kansas State took the horsemanship division 2-1. Thornton's score of 73.5 helped the reining team erase the deficit with a 3-1 win.
"It was a great day to have an equestrian event," Coach Boo Duncan said. "The weather was perfect and our girls rode very well for our opening meet. We had several first timers that rode extremely well, and our veterans were solid."
Biwott paces Gamecocks in second-place finish
Meanwhile, the cross country team was busy dominating in their own sport as the Gamecocks beat regionally ranked Charlotte and Appalachian State with a second-place finish at the Asics Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill.
Three Gamecocks finished in the top 20 at the event, led by fast-starting freshman runner Beatrice Biwott, who came in with a solid fifth-place finish with a time of 18:28 in the 5K.
"I was very happy the way the team went out and raced hard from the start today," Coach Stan Rosenthal said. "While that made it difficult in the last mile for a couple of the Gamecocks, almost everyone was passing folks on the sprint to the finish line. To beat the top teams in our region was another step in our progress this fall."
Zubori, Miller start year undefeated at Virginia
Wrapping up a solid weekend for South Carolina was the women's tennis team, who received solid performances from Ana Marija Zubori and freshman Ashley Miller, both of whom ran their season records to 3-0 in singles play at the Charlottesville Invitational in Virginia.
Both ladies defeated members of the Marshall Thundering Herd, both of which came in convincing fashion. Zubori defeated No. 42 Kellie Schmitt 6-1, 6-4 while Miller knocked off Kristina Koprcina in a dominating 6-2, 6-3 landslide.
The doubles teams were not so lucky, as both Gamecock duos dropped matches to pairs from Marshall on Sunday, completing a weekend where USC doubles went just 2-6 overall, compared to a 15-7 mark in weekend singles matches.
The tennis team heads to Greenville for the Furman Classic next weekend, while the equestrian and cross country teams have the weekend off.
While the South Carolina Gamecocks were busy winning games on the gridiron and soccer fields, some of the school's other sports were busy having successes of their own on the tracks and courts.
On Friday, the Carolina Equestrian team started off its season strong with a 13-4 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats in Blythewood. Leading the way for the Gamecocks was junior Megan Massaro, who received MVP honors in both equitation and equitation over fences. Carolina won both by scores of 5-0 and 4-1, respectively.
The Western team, led by freshman Maggie Fortune and sophomore Hailey Thornton, recorded a 4-3 victory, a hard-earned result after Kansas State took the horsemanship division 2-1. Thornton's score of 73.5 helped the reining team erase the deficit with a 3-1 win.
"It was a great day to have an equestrian event," Coach Boo Duncan said. "The weather was perfect and our girls rode very well for our opening meet. We had several first timers that rode extremely well, and our veterans were solid."
Biwott paces Gamecocks in second-place finish
Meanwhile, the cross country team was busy dominating in their own sport as the Gamecocks beat regionally ranked Charlotte and Appalachian State with a second-place finish at the Asics Winthrop Invitational in Rock Hill.
Three Gamecocks finished in the top 20 at the event, led by fast-starting freshman runner Beatrice Biwott, who came in with a solid fifth-place finish with a time of 18:28 in the 5K.
"I was very happy the way the team went out and raced hard from the start today," Coach Stan Rosenthal said. "While that made it difficult in the last mile for a couple of the Gamecocks, almost everyone was passing folks on the sprint to the finish line. To beat the top teams in our region was another step in our progress this fall."
Zubori, Miller start year undefeated at Virginia
Wrapping up a solid weekend for South Carolina was the women's tennis team, who received solid performances from Ana Marija Zubori and freshman Ashley Miller, both of whom ran their season records to 3-0 in singles play at the Charlottesville Invitational in Virginia.
Both ladies defeated members of the Marshall Thundering Herd, both of which came in convincing fashion. Zubori defeated No. 42 Kellie Schmitt 6-1, 6-4 while Miller knocked off Kristina Koprcina in a dominating 6-2, 6-3 landslide.
The doubles teams were not so lucky, as both Gamecock duos dropped matches to pairs from Marshall on Sunday, completing a weekend where USC doubles went just 2-6 overall, compared to a 15-7 mark in weekend singles matches.
The tennis team heads to Greenville for the Furman Classic next weekend, while the equestrian and cross country teams have the weekend off.
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