University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Charlotte Invitational
Polite Collects Second Career Victory at the Charlotte Invitational
4/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track and Field
Charlotte, N.C. – For the second time in her career, Jasmine Polite took home top individual honors in the 5000-meters to lead the USC Upstate track and field team on Friday during day one of the Charlotte Invitational at the Irwin Belk Track & Field Center.
Polite held off a field of 13 runners to win her first 5000-meter race since finishing first as a sophomore at the 2013 Charlotte Invitational. Now a senior, Polite crossed the finish line with a personal-best time of 17:19.34, giving her the fourth-fastest time in the A-Sun this season.
The Upstate women logged a total of four top-10 performances on Friday led by Polite.
Meagan Bailey turned in a season-best finish in the javelin throw with a toss of 33.46-meters to place fifth.
The Spartans picked up two top-10 finishes in the 1500-meter run from Anastasia Kolesnitchenko and Molly Bliss. Kolesnitchenko led the way with an eighth place showing after posting a time of 4:50.56, giving her three straight top-10 finishes this season and second in a row in the 1500-meters. Bliss recorded a personal-best time of 4:50.85 leading to a season-best finish of ninth.
Storm-Alexis Gandy also had a personal-best time in the 1500-meter run as the freshman ran a time of 5:26.95.
Griffin Eubanks led a group of six runners in the 5000-meter run after collecting his second straight finish of third or better this season. Eubanks ran a personal-best time of 15:12.77 to finish in third place as three other runners also finished inside the top 10. Upstate had three of the next four spots behind Eubanks in Mark Rennix, Martin Morrow and Theodore Kountourogiannis. Rennix, running in his first 5000-meter race this season, finished fifth with a time of 15:30.28. Morrow and Kountourogiannis placed sixth and seventh, respectively, as both compiled personal-best times in the event.
For the second straight meet, Jacob Collins posted a personal-best time in the 3000-meter steeplechase as he ran a 10:15.84 and finished in ninth place.
The final day of the Charlotte Invitational will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday morning with the women's long jump and men's high jump. The running of the women's 4x400-meter relay concludes the meet at 4:25 p.m.
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