Aiken Newcomer Wins Columbia County Invitational

Aiken High School\'s Nicole Lewis, a junior that recently moved to South Carolina from Ohio dominated a mostly Georgia field at the Columbia County Invitational Saturday. Lewis placed first in 20:15, 19 seconds ahead of second place finisher Lauren Herrington of Heritage (Ga.).

On the boy\'s side Gilbert\'s Jeremy Hunsaker led South Carolina with a top three finishing time of 17:31. Three seconds behind Hunsaker was teammate Trey McCain. Aiken High boys had Paul Jackson (7th) and Marc Elraheb (8th) finished in the top 10.

In the girl\'s team standings Gilbert was the first South Carolina team in, as they finished seventh. In the boy\'s team standings Aiken placed second to Georgia\'s Greenbriar. Aiken tallied 69 points as Gilbert finished third with 93 points.

Next up in South Carolina is the Furman Invitational on Oct. 9. Furman University is hosting the South Conference Championships on Oct. 30. In 1999 and 2001 Furman hosted the NCAA D-I National Cross Country Championships.

Michele Milner, Aiken alumna contributed to this article.