USC Cross Country Finishes 12th At The Highlander Invitational

Freshman Giovanna Pisano finished 29th to help lead the USC cross country team to a 12-place finish at the Highlander Invitational (6K) held on the Agriculture Operations Course in Riverside, Calif. today (Oct. 16). 

"We finished today about how I thought we would finish," said USC Associate Head Coach, Cross Country Jebreh Harris.  "Quite a few of our athletes earned an opportunity to come out here and compete and quite of few of our ladies earned the opportunity to take a day of rest.  Moving forward, two weeks from now, we have the Pac-12 Championships and we are looking forward to that opportunity as well."

USC entered only six runners for the final regular season meet and three of them were making their 2021 debut.

Leading the way for USC was Pisano who finished the 6K-course in a time of 21:39.9 to place 29th overall. Pisano had been USC's second finisher in each of the first two meets of the season.  Junior transfer Mihajla Milovanovic crossed the finish line second for the Trojans with a time of 22:11.8, good for 57th overall, while freshman Maya Lacamp had a time of 22:20.7 to finish 67th.

The three Trojan athletes competing for the first time this cross country season were senior Jemima Russell, senior Julia Bounds and sophomore Alicia Liera.  Russell had a time of 22:59.5 in her 2021 cross country debut to finish 102nd.  It was her second-fastest 6K race of her career.  Bounds had a 6K PR of 23:47.4 to finish 149th overall.  Liera, running her first collegiate cross country race, had a time of 24:50.7 to finish 200th.

Next up for the USC women's cross country team will be the Pac-12 Championships at the Regional Athletics Complex in Salt Lake City, Utah on Oct. 29.