GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNC Greensboro (UNCG) cross country team closed out the regular season on Saturday morning at the Upstate Invitational, the men's team placing fifth in the 8K and the women taking eighth in the 5K at the Roger Milliken Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Men's race
UNCG took fifth among a field of 37 squads, finishing with 150 points. The Spartans were only beaten out by Charleston Southern (46 points, first), Duke (53, second), Furman (120, third), and Davidson (121, fourth).
The Spartans edged out SoCon foes Western Carolina (157, sixth), ETSU (312, 11th), Mercer (335, 12th), and Wofford (788, 27th) while also besting local opponents Gardner-Webb and UNCW.
Khalid Abdullahi's time of 24:05.1 was nearly a minute off of his previous 8K personal record (PR) as he cruised to seventh, the senior being the second highest individual men's finisher from a Southern Conference (SoCon) program on the day.
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Luke Hühn was UNCG's second finisher, narrowly missing out on a top-10 spot as the sophomore crossed the line in 11th; he also put together a PR effort, clocking in at 24:15.8. Lane Prochaska continued the trend of improvement for the Spartans by besting his previous PR by over a minute, coming in at 24:41.6 to take 26th in Spartanburg.
Pierson Guerrant placed 44th to give the Blue & Gold four top-45 finishers, himself notching a PR of 25:08.5. Logan Ruffner became UNCG's fifth finisher in 81st, crossing the line in 25:40.7.
Jonathan Marsden (26:04.1) and Spencer Slayton (26:10.5) narrowly missed out on top-100 places, the pair crossing the line in 102nd and 109th, respectively. Gunnar Douglass (144th, 26:37.7) and Sebastian Frickel (163rd, 26:49.4) rounded out the men's finishers for the Spartans.
Women's race
Among a field of 36 teams, the Spartan women placed eighth in a close battle with several SoCon opponents. UNCG's point total of 291 was just behind Western Carolina (267, seventh) and Mercer (124, sixth).
Vicky Sosa led the way for UNCG with a time of 18:12.9, her best of the season so far as she crossed the line 28th among a field of 309 total runners.
All three of the top Spartan finishers enjoyed their best races of the season in Spartanburg. Camryn Oates clocked in at 45th with a mark of 18:30.9, followed by Olivia Arnold at 18:38.0 for a 54th-place result.
Hailey Meyers became the fourth member of the Blue & Gold to book a top-75 spot, coming in at 71st among the field with a time of 18:55.0.
Joelle Tonne (119th, 19:34.9) and Erica Rash (133rd, 19:48.8) joined the previous four Spartan runners among the top half of the standings, Tonne becoming the fourth Spartan to log her best 5K time of the season. Emily Graff (183rd, 20:32.2) and Sasha Helmer (221st, 21:16.3) completed the lineup for UNCG on the day.
The overall top five finishers on the day were Duke (17 points), Mercer (124), ETSU (135), Coastal Carolina (148) and Charleston Southern (148). The Spartans placed ahead of in-state opponents Gardner-Webb (364, 11th) and UNCW (420, 14th) while topping another SoCon opponent in Wofford (367, 12th).
The next stop for the Spartans is the Tryon SoCon Cross Country Championships, hosted in Mill Spring, North Carolina, at the Tryon Equestrian Center on Saturday, Oct. 31. Tickets are now on sale can be found here.
