Sept. 21, 2007

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - USC Upstate freshman cross country runner Emily Tangwar picked up her highest finish of the season, taking fourth place in the women's 5k run at the 1st annual Charlotte Invitational on the campus of UNC Charlotte Friday evening.

Upstate cross country head coach Jimmy Stephens said that both men's and women's teams are making better strides as the season continures. "We're still making a lot of improvement. This course that we ran today was a lot tougher, but eveyone's times either stayed steady or dropped," Stephens said.

Tangwar finished strong, catching competitors in front of her to finish with a time of 18:55.9, just 22 seconds behind the women's 5k winner, Aja Jackson of UNC Charlotte, who won the race at a time of 18:33.2.

"(Emily) was solid. We held her back a little at the beginning and she was closing the gap on all the runners in front of her late in the race, so hopefully she'll see those runners who were in front of her again," Stephens said.

On the men's side, sophomore Matt Henderson took ninth overall in the 8k run with a time of 29:03.7. Charlotte had eight runners take the top eight spots including Chase Eckard, who won the race at a time of 26:20.5. Stephens said that he is impressed with Henderson's work ethic.

"Matt has really taken to the training. His times are getting better each run and he's really becoming a leader in the program," Stephens said.

Freshaman Conrad Goeringer improved his time at Charlotte, finishing 12th at a time of 29:56.0. Upstate assistant coach Ed Schlichter said that Goeringer improved his time on a course that makes it hard to do.

"This course is one of the hardest we will see all season and both teams ran better competively than we have all season," Schlichter said.

"Everyone's gelling together and coming together right now," Stephens said. "I really think that is the reason why everyone's times are getting better."