Cross Country Competes at USC-Upstate Invite

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Columbia College Cross Country teams competed in the NCAA Div. I USC-Upstate Invitational on Saturday from Spartanburg. The women came away with a 20th place finsh in the 5K meet while the men were 21st in the 8K race.

Of the 23 teams competing in the meet, 15 were Division I schools while five were either D-2 or D3 schools. Among non D-1 teams, Columbia finished 5th of 8 schools including defeating AAC foe Truett McConnell.

Senior Juliana Gonzalez led the Lady Koalas placing 145th out of 220 runners in a time of 20:59 finishing just under 21 minutes. Coming in second on the Koalas was sophomore Avarose Buccino in 21:25 to place 153rd.

Finishing 3rd on CC and 158th overall was freshman Aja Rushing coming across in 21:40 while fellow freshman Annsley Howle was 4th on the team and 168th overall in 22:20. Finishing out the scoring was freshman Alissa McCann in 181st in 23:07.

Also running for the Koalas was senior Jennyfer Vigueras coming in right behind McCann in 23:09 while freshman Ellie Fisher ran a time of 24:10. Freshman Micaela Cross also ran a time of 27:21.

The Lady Koalas will next have two weeks off before heading to Knoxville, TN for the AAC Championships on Friday, November 7 at 10:00 am.