GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) cross country team closes the regular season out Saturday morning at the Upstate Invitational, hosted by USC Upstate at the Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
This year's meet will see the women's 5K take place at 9:00 a.m., with the men set to follow with an 8K at 9:45 a.m. Saturday's race marks the final meet for the Spartans before taking part in the Tryon International Southern Conference (SoCon) Cross Country Championships presented by Ingles on Oct. 31.
MEET INFORMATION
UNCG LINEUP – MEN
Khalid Abdullahi,
Gunnar Douglass,
Sebastian Frickel,
Pierson Guerrant,
Luke Hühn,
Jonathan Marsden,
Lane Prochaska,
Logan Ruffner,
Spencer Slayton
UNCG LINEUP – WOMEN
Olivia Arnold,
Emily Graff,
Sasha Helmer,
Hailey Meyers,
Camryn Oates,
Erica Rash,
Vicky Sosa,
Joelle Tonne
THE FIELD – MEN'S TEAMS
Winthrop, Florida College, The Citadel, Lees-McRae, UNCW, Bob Jones, USC-Beaufort, Mercer, Claflin, UNCG, Cleveland CC, Western Carolina, Jacksonville, Furman, North Greenville, Duke, Spartanburg Methodist, Brevard, Radford, USC Upstate, Mount Olive, College of Charleston, Wofford, ETSU, Queens (N.C.), Coastal Carolina, NC Central, Francis Marion, Charleston Southern, Davidson, Southern Wesleyan, Columbus State, Johnson & Wales, West Georgia, South Carolina State, Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian
THE FIELD – WOMEN'S TEAMS
Winthrop, Florida College, The Citadel, Lees-McRae, UNCW, Bob Jones, USC-Beaufort, Mercer, Claflin, UNCG, Cleveland CC, Western Carolina, Jacksonville, Furman, North Greenville, Duke, Spartanburg Methodist, Brevard, Radford, USC Upstate, Mount Olive, College of Charleston, Wofford, ETSU, Queens (N.C.), Coastal Carolina, NC Central, Francis Marion, Charleston Southern, Davidson, Southern Wesleyan, Columbus State, Johnson & Wales, West Georgia, South Carolina State, Gardner-Webb, Presbyterian
GOOD TEST FOR THE SPARTANS AHEAD OF THE SOCON CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Upstate Invitational will feature a total of seven of 11 SoCon squads in the field, with ETSU, Furman, The Citadel, Mercer, UNCG, Western Carolina and Wofford all present on Saturday. It's the final regular season race for several schools ahead of Oct. 31's championships, and a good barometer for where things may stand heading into the races at the Tryon Equestrian Center.
LAST TIME OUT - MEN
UNCG's men placed first among five teams at the Spartan Classic, the first 8K race of the season.
Lane Prochaska led the side for the second consecutive meet, beating out Luke Hühn in a photo-finish, 26:08.3 to 26:08.5. It was all Blue & Gold in the top five, as the pair were followed by
Pierson Guerrant (26:21.5),
Logan Ruffner (26:49.7), and
Jonathan Marsden (27:45.6).
Overall, eight Spartan men earned top-10 finishes.
Spencer Slayton (28:05.3) and
Khalid Abdullahi (28:05.4) were the next two to place, in sixth and seventh, respectively;
Gunnar Douglass (28:21.7) and
Sebastian Frickel (28:31.1) booked ninth and 10
th.
Jeremiah Jones (14th),
Landon Jones (15th),
Samuel Barnard (16th), and
JT Brownlee (33rd) all ran their first races of the season for the Blue & Gold in Kernersville as well.
LAST TIME OUT - WOMEN
The Spartan women also took first among a field of four, led by an all-UNCG top three.
Hailey Meyers paced the Blue & Gold for the third time in as many meets with the season with a winning time of 18:41.1, followed by
Vicky Sosa (19:11.2) and
Camryn Oates (19:34.1).
Seven total Spartans finished among the top 10, with the next run of UNCG finishers seeing
Erica Rash take fifth (19:59.6),
Keira Mansure in sixth (20:04.3), OIivia Arnold seventh (20:12.4) and
Joelle Tonne finishing the pack in eighth (20:28.1).
Freshmen
Sasha Helmer (17
th, 22:24.0),
Christiana Rodriguez (18
th, 22:43.0) and
Emily Graff (26
th, 23:51.4) completed the finishes for the Blue & Gold.
UP NEXT
The next stop for the Spartans is the Tryon International SoCon Cross Country Championships presented by Ingles, hosted in Mill Spring, North Carolina, at the Tryon Equestrian Center on Saturday, Oct. 31. Tickets are now on sale and can be found
here.
