University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Upstate Invitational
Eight Spartans Post Personal-Best Times at Upstate Invitational
10/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Spartanburg, S.C. – The USC Upstate cross country team had eight runners turn in personal-best marks while six others recorded season-best times Saturday morning during the Upstate Invitational at Milliken Research Center.
The Upstate men finished tied for seventh place with 206 total points while the women were eighth after compiling 266 points. In the women's race, Georgia Tech took home first-place accolades and Tristin Van Ord of Appalachian State won the event. Wake Forest captured the men's race while Georgia Tech's Jeremy Greenwald was the top individual runner.
"Both teams did a great job today," said Upstate associate head coach Carson Blackwelder.
The morning began for the Spartans with the women turning in an eighth-place performance as four competitors ran personal-best times and four more had their best marks of the season. Jasmine Polite was the top performer for Upstate as she finished 25th with the second-best time of her career in the 5K of 18:40.36. Anastasia Kolesnitchenko turned in the second-best time for the Spartans as her season-best mark of 19:31.52 gave her a 65th-place showing. Essence Jackson (20:16.24), Rebecca Elliott (20:44.34), Kelsey Warren (22:04.72) and Storm-Alexis Gandy (22:09.72) also had personal-best times on Saturday. Molly Bliss and Ashleigh Torres both compiled season-best times as Bliss ran the course in 20:24.79 and Torres followed with a 20:33.97.
On the men's side, Griffin Eubanks and Alex Love helped lead Upstate to a tie for seventh with Winthrop as the duo each ran personal-best times in the 8K. Eubanks had the top time for the Spartans as he finished in 19th place after running the course in 25:43.59, and Love was 29th after his time of 25:52.27. Dan Castello and Josh Lee also recorded new personal-bests with Castello running a 28:52.38 and Lee a 29:28.61. Theodore Kountourogiannis completed the course in 26:45.96 to finish 54th and Cody Ellison crossed the finish line later at 27:50.26, both season-best times for the runners. Martin Morrow was the fourth-fastest Upstate runner after concluding the course in 27:30.52. Joey Daversa finished in 28:02.49 and Logan Ray posted a time of 29:27.50. Calin Schumacher, competing in his first race as a Spartan, ran a time of 33:06.80.
Upstate heads to Johns Island, S.C. on Friday, Oct. 17 for the College of Charleston Invitational beginning at 5 p.m.
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