Upstate Heads to Stetson for A-Sun Championships
10/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate cross country team travels to the state of Florida Saturday morning for the A-Sun Championships hosted by Stetson University at River City Nature Park.
The day begins at 8:30 a.m. with the women's 5K and the men's 8K to follow at 9:30 a.m. The awards ceremony will be held at 10:30 a.m.
The Spartans finished sixth in the men's race at last year's A-Sun Championships while the women had a seventh-place showing. Upstate had two All-Conference performers in Jasmine Polite and former Spartan Ross Oden.
"We are excited to make the trip down to Florida for the championships," said associate head coach Carson Blackwelder. "The runners are in great shape and ready for the challenge that is in front of them."
Upstate is coming off a solid performance two weeks ago at the College of Charleston Invitational which saw the men pick up their first team title of the season. The women also ran to a third-place finish as Polite and Griffin Eubanks compiled the top individual performances for the Spartans.
Eubanks finished third overall, and second in the Division I race, surpassing his top time in the 8K for the fourth straight meet. He turned in the seventh-fastest time of any A-Sun runner this season. Upstate had four runners total, along with Eubanks, to finish in the top 10 in Alex Love, Theodore Kountourogiannis and Martin Morrow.
On the women's side, Polite recorded the second-best finish of her career as she placed third overall. It was the fourth top-five finish of her career. She was one of five Spartans to post a personal-best time along with Anastasia Kolesnitchenko, Essence Jackson, Ashleigh Torres and Rebecca Elliott.
Polite will look to become the fourth Upstate women's runner to earn multiple All-Conference accolades during their career. The senior from Goose Creek, S.C. was named Second Team All-Conference last season after finishing in 12th place. She would join former Spartans Jemeli Sang, Carolyne Chelulei and Joan Tangwar as the only other runners to accomplish the feat.
Official results for the race will be available on www.upstatespartans.com and www.atlanticsun.org following the completion of both races.
The Spartans head to Louisville, Ky. on Friday, Nov. 14 for the NCAA Southeast Regional.
Follow Upstate cross country on your mobile device, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
