Clemson Women Claim Charlotte XC Invitational

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson women’s cross country team won the Charlotte Invitational at McAlpine Park on Friday afternoon.  Kate Borowicz finished fifth to lead a Tiger squad that placed all five of its scorers within the top 29 positions out of 233 competitors in the 6K gold race.  On the men’s side, sophomore Aaron Ramirez continued his fine start to the 2012 season with a fourth-place effort.  He led the Tiger men’s team to a sixth-place showing.

Borowicz ran a solid time of 21:34 across McAlpine’s hot and dusty 6,000-meter course.  It was the second time in three meets this season the red-shirt junior from Greenville, SC led the Tiger women’s team from an individual standpoint.  She was pushed by Natalie Anthony, who placed 11th for her third straight top-15 finish in 2012.  Anthony had a time of 21:52.43.  A third Tiger finishing in the top 20 on Friday was Erin Barker, an Easley, SC native and former Furman Paladin.  Barker posted a time of 22:14.61 and finished 18th overall.

Alyssa Henshaw and Cara Talty were the team’s final two scorers Friday in 28th and 29th, respectively.  Henshaw put together a time of 22:31.43, while Talty crossed the finish line at 22:34.33.  Red-shirt freshman Brianna Blanton just missed another scoring opportunity, finishing a solid 34th with a time of 22:42.03.

Clemson’s women totaled 83 points Friday, besting runner-up Appalachian State by a 23-point margin.  Richmond finished third as a team with 137 points.  

In the men’s gold 8K championship race, Ramirez battled to a time of 24:27.48 in a fourth-place effort, his second top-five finish in three meets.  Ramirez, a native of Piedmont, SC, recorded a personal best over 8,000 meters at McAlpine Park.  He was part of Clemson’s pack of runners that was 18 seconds behind the lead at the mile mark.  Ramirez moved up over 50 spots from that point to the race’s conclusion.

The gap was over a minute between Ramirez and Clemson’s No. 2 runner, freshman Roland Hakes.  The Irmo, SC native produced a time of 25:36.88 and was 45th.  Clemson’s final three scorers in order in the men’s race were Travis Christenberry in 49th (25:39.77), Tim Tyler in 63rd (25:55.80) and Martin Maloney in 67th (25:57.57).

Virginia Tech won the men’s team race with 31 points, easily handling Wake Forest who was runner-up with 80.  Davidson (138) took third place in the team race.  Clemson had a total of 196 points Friday.