Saturday, September 17, 2011

CLEMSON, S.C. – The USC Upstate men's and women's cross country teams competed in the Clemson Invitational today as senior Jemeli Sang took top honors in the women's race.

Sang posted a school record in the women's 6K with a time of 20:42.88, followed by teammate and fellow senior Joan Tangwar in third with a time of 20:49.08. Caroline Chelulei took 30th, crossing the line in 21:55.32 as the senior trio helped the Spartans to a sixth-place finish out of 12 teams.

The Spartans competed against runners from Anderson, Chattahoochee Tech, Converse, Davidson, Erskine, Florida State, Furman, Georgia Tech, King College, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and host Clemson with the women running a 6K Friday, instead of the usual 5K.

"Jemeli had a great race, it was her first collegiate cross country victory," said Upstate's interim-head cross country coach Carson Blackwelder. "Joan and Jemeli followed the race plan by running near the front, being patient and then pushing the last couple miles. Overall it was good race for our team. This was their first race at the 6k distance, which we will see later this year at regionals."

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