Upstate Women 4th, Men 5th at Covered Bridge Open
8/30/2013 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Men's Results | Women's Results
Boone, N.C. – The USC Upstate men's and women's cross country teams began the season Friday night with solid efforts at the Covered Bridge Open hosted by Appalachian State. The women's team finished fourth, while the men's team took fifth.
"The men and women had a good start to the season," said associate head coach Carson Blackwelder. "We now have a starting point and can work on improving our performances. The women are in better shape than last year at this time. Jasmine (Polite) and Anastasia (Kolesnitchenko) worked together to be our top two runners. Hannah (Chaney) and Erin (Gethin) also had good races to take the third and fourth spots on the team."
The women's team finished fourth in the six-team meet with 131 points. The Spartans finished ahead of UNC Wilmington (137) and VMI (170). Florida State, which finished fourth in last year's NCAA Championships, claimed first with 15 points after crossing the first seven runners over the finish line. Appalachian State was second with 59 points and was followed by East Carolina in third with 70 points.
Kolesnitchenko (Boiling Springs, S.C.) was the top Upstate runner, finishing 19th with a 5k time of 19:43.50. It was the second fastest time of her career. She battled Polite (Goose Creek, S.C.) for the position with Polite coming in .27 seconds behind with a time of 19:44.27. Chaney (Brunswick, Ohio) finished 26th with a time of 20:13.83, the third best time of her career, while Gethin (Cocoa Beach, Fla.) also turned in her third best time at 20:26.28. Ashleigh Torres was the fifth Spartan finisher with a time of 21:22.75.
Ross Oden (Salisbury, N.C.) led the men's team with a 19th place finish with a time of 26:41.06. Freshman Alex Love (Pasadena, Md.) was the second highest Spartan finisher with a time of 27:37.51. Riley Doherty (Tallahassee, Fla.) was just behind with a time of 27:39.59. Mark Rennix (Beaufort, S.C.) and freshman Theodore Kountourogiannis (Niagara Falls, Ontario) battled each other and came in as the fourth and fifth Spartans in the meet. Rennix came in at 28:09.75, while Kountourogiannis ran the 8k in 28:11.64.
Florida State, which finished fifth at last year's NCAA Championships, took first place in the team competition with 19 points. Appalachian State was second with 42 points and was followed by VMI (77), East Carolina (88), Upstate (142) and UNC Wilmington (144).
Upstate returns to action next Friday while hosting the Eye Opener meet at the Milliken Research Park adjacent to campus.
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