University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
A-Sun Championships
Upstate Men Finish 6th, Women 7th at A-Sun Championships
11/2/2013 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Men's 8K Results
Women's 5K Results
Nashville, Tenn. – The USC Upstate men's and women's cross country teams posted sixth and seventh place finishes, respectively, at the 2013 Atlantic Sun Conference Championships Saturday morning at Vaughn's Gap Course.
The men ran the 8K race in a total time of 2:13:19.10. Senior Ross Oden earned his second straight Second Team All-A-Sun recognition after finishing in 11th place. He was the top runner for the Spartans after recording a time of 25:49.20.
"The men fought hard to take home sixth place," said associate head coach Carson Blackwelder. "Ross Oden had a great second half of the race and moved up from 24th place to 11th place in the last two miles. The 11th place finish earned him his second consecutive All-A-Sun honor."
Freshman Theodore Kountourogiannis earned a 31st place finish after his time of 26:30.93 and was followed by senior Andrew Kipchumba in 37th place and a time of 26:39.23. Junior Riley Doherty finished behind Kipchuma in 42nd place (27:05.68) and freshman Alex Love was 46th after a time of 27:14.06. Juniors Mark Rennix and Cody Ellison were back-to-back in the individual standings as Rennix ran 27:54.12 and Ellison 27:56.09. Freshman Cameron Fowler posted a season-best time of 28:07.84. Freshman Spencer Nieto rounded out the individual performers for Upstate as he finished with a time of 29:35.08.
The women finished the 5K race with a total time of 1:37:06.65. Junior Jasmine Polite received her first career All-Conference Team accolades as she was named to the Second Team. Polite earned a 12th place finish with a season-best time of 18:35.00 to lead all Upstate women runners. She was one of five runners to post second-best times at the conference meet.
"The women did a great job of competing in a tough field of runners," Blackwelder added. "It was a very tight team finish fourth through seventh with only nine points separating them. It shows the importance of every place and every second. Jasmine Polite ran a great race as she was 18th after the first mile and moved up to 12th to cross the line. She earned her first Second Team All-A-Sun honor."
Sophomore Anastasia Kolesnitchenko had the second-best performance for the Spartans as she posted a time of 19:23.10 for a 30th place finish. Senior Hannah Chaney was two spots behind Kolesnitchenko as she recorded a season-best time of 19:26.39. Junior Erin Gethin and sophomore Molly Bliss were 42nd and 43rd in the individual standings. Gethin ran a time of 19:50.81 followed by Bliss' season-best time of 19:51.35. Freshman Janay Chisolm (20:13.77), freshman Essence Jackson (20:24.27), sophomore Ashleigh Torres (20:25.93) and sophomore Nia Payne (20:50.37) wrapped up the individual performers for Upstate.
Host school Lipscomb won both the men's and women's team championships Saturday. The men had a time of 2:06:56.66 and the women recorded a time of 1:30:45.71. On the men's side, Northern Kentucky's JJ Webber picked up individual champion honors after posting a time of 25:05.06. Kelly Perzanowski of Florida Gulf Coast won the women's individual title with a time of 17:21.02.
The Spartans will travel to Charlottesville, Va. on Friday, Nov. 15 for the 2013 NCAA Southeast Regionals. The meet is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
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