University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Winthrop/adidas Invitational
Upstate Men Place 2nd, Women 4th at Winthrop/adidas Invitational
9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Rock Hill, S.C. – Griffin Eubanks and Jasmine Polite posted the top times for USC Upstate Saturday morning as the men's team finished in second place while the women were fourth at the 28th Annual Winthrop/adidas Invitational from the Winthrop Lake Course.
The men were second in the Garnet Division 8K race as they compiled 61 points with a 27:01.77 average time. The Spartan women followed with 118 points in the 5K for a fourth-place showing in the Garnet Division after an average time of 20:08.58 per runner.
"We saw some great racing today, and it showed with some personal and season-bests," said Upstate associate head coach Carson Blackwelder. "We have made great improvements over the last two weeks."
Eubanks recorded his second top-5 finish in as many races as he ran the course in 25:57.86 to lead the Upstate men with a fifth-place performance. He was one of two Spartans to finish 10th or better as Alex Love also turned in his second straight top-10 showing, finishing 10th with a time of 26:17.05. Martin Morrow followed with his best showing at Upstate after crossing the finish line in 27:23.02 for an 18th-place finish. Joey Daversa was four spots behind Morrow in 22nd place after a time of 27:34.44. The Spartans then had four runners conclude the race within five spots of each other as Theodore Kountourogiannis was 26th (27:56.45), Cody Ellison 27th (28:00.57), Riley Doherty 29th (28:05.75) and Jacob Collins 30th (28:11.87). Logan Ray (37th, 29:00.64) and Josh Lee (40th, 29:34.88) closed out the event for Upstate.
Polite has led the Spartan women in each race so far this season after finishing in 13th place at Winthrop on her time of 18:48.77. Not far behind Polite was Anastasia Kolesnitchenko in the 22nd position as she posted a time of 19:35.28. Essence Jackson and Ashleigh Torres were within four spots of each other as Jackson was 34th with a time of 20:31.91, and Torres coming in 37th at 20:47.48. Molly Bliss was 42nd after running the 5K course in 20:59.44. Finishing up the race were Kelsey Warren in 52nd place (22:33.82) and Storm-Alexis Gandy two spots behind her in 54th (23:19.49).
Appalachian State won both the men's and women's Garnet Division races. In the two Gold Division competitions, Shawnee State captured the men's title while Columbia College took home the top women's finish.
Upstate returns to Spartanburg on Saturday, Oct. 4 when it hosts the Upstate Invitational beginning at 9 a.m. from Milliken Research Center.
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