Sept. 8, 2007

Spartanburg, S.C. - The USC Upstate men's and women's cross country teams hosted the 24th annual Eye Opener cross country meet Saturday on the grounds of Milliken Research Park with 26 colleges and 393 total runners competing in the collegiate races.

Upstate finished fifth out of the five Division I teams in both the men's 8k run and women's 5k run. In the men's run, UNC Charlotte was the team champion followed by Furman in second, Wofford third and Presbyterian finishing fourth. UNC Charlotte also finished first in the women's team standings with Furman second, Wofford third and Presbyterian fourth.

The Spartans highest finisher was freshman women's cross country runner Emily Tangwar, who finished eighth overall out of 216 runners and fifth among Division I runners with a time of 18:41. Sophomore Maria Ruvalcaba finished 74th with a time of 21:49.

UNC Charlotte junior Aja Jackson was the overall winner and the top Division I finisher with a time of 18:09 and the 49ers took the top four spots and five of the top 10 in Division I. MacKenzie Labonte of Milligan College was the top Division II runner with a time of 18:30 to help Milligan take the team title in Division II.

The Upstate men were paced by freshman Matt Henderson, who finished 39th out of 177 runners with a time of 27:56. Freshman Drew Goode finished 83rd with a time of 29:50.

Benjamin Rono of Milligan College was the overall winner and the top Division II finisher with a timeof 25:35. Dakota Lowery of UNC Charlotte was the top Division I finisher with a time of 25:58. Anderson took top honors Division II schools.

The Eye Opener played host not only to college runners, but also high school runners with 83 high schools competing and over 2,200 runners total from the collegiate and high school ranks.