Bears Narrowly Miss Team Title

Saturday, October 16

Spartanburg, S.C.

9:00 AM

Mercer University

USC Upstate Invitational

10/17/2021 12:37:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Women finished 8th, Men finished 2nd

By: Nicole Dennis

Spartanburg, S.C. – The Mercer cross country ran in the USC Upstate Invitational, the last regular season race of the season. Both the women and men recorded their best finishes of eighth and second place overall, respectively.

"Very proud of our ladies for overcoming some challenges coming into this race," said Head Coach Josh Hayman. "Happy to see Laney consistently leading the pack for us. We know we are capable of more and we look forward to showing that in two weeks at conference."

"The men had an excellent day. We were aggressive early and held our ground as the race unfolded. They executed a near perfect race."

WOMEN'S RACE (5K)
Laney Doster led the Bears again with a 22^nd overall finish. All seven Bears placed in the top 100. Ashley McMahon (45), Giulia Giorgi (48), Annette Rodriquez (54), Penelope Jackson (67), Reece Robertson (75), and Whitney Johnson (92). The women finished 8^th with 231 total points and a total time of 1:42:12

WOMEN'S RESULTS

PLACE	NAME		TIME
22		Laney Doster	19:29.7
45		Ashley McMahon	20:25.8
48		Giulia Giorgi	20:33.0
54		Annette Rodriquez	20:43.1
67		Penelope Jackson	20:59.8
75		Reece Robertson	21:20.6
92		Whitney Johnson	22:31.2

MEN'S RACE (8K)
The mercer men placed second overall out of 17 with a score of 56 and a total time of 2:11:26. Vladi Zander-Velloso led the Bears, finishing in third overall. Zander-Velloso completed the race with a time of 25:41.9, around 17 second faster than the week prior. Four additional Bears finished in the top 20. Josh Kraver (9), Connor Kaufman (12), Reece Cato (13), and Jonathan Greene (19). Kraver and Kaufman each cut time from the prior race, 39 and 13 seconds respectively. All nine of the competing Bears finished in the top 100. Chinmay Dongari (55), Robert Zell (64), Chris French (87), and Sebasthian Rodriguez (95).

MEN'S RESULTS

PLACE	NAME		TIME
3		Vladi Zander-Velloso	25:41.9
9		Josh Kraver	26:12.9
12		Connor Kaufman	26:20.2
13		Reece Cato	26:24.6
19		Jonathan Greene	26:45.9
55		Chinmay Dongari	28:12.6
64		Robert Zell	28:33.5
87		Chris French	29:08.7
95		Sebasthian Rodriguez	29:50.0

UP NEXT
The Bears will run at the Southern Conference Championships on Saturday, October 30^th.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Cross Country, follow the team at @MercerXCTF (Twitter), /mercerxctf (Facebook) and @mercerbearsxctf (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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