SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Paced by senior Mason Hazel's top finish, the Anderson men's cross country team outpaced Newberry for first place at the USC Upstate Invitational, Saturday morning at the Milliken Research Center.
The Trojans captured the top four spots and seven of the top eight finishes to improve on last year's third-place finish, with Hazel repeating as individual champion at the Invitational, despite having not competed this season prior to Saturday and was less than a second off his championship time from a year ago, posting a time of 25:45.3 over the 8K course.
Freshman Ben Clark (26:07.9) was second among NCAA Division II runners, while freshman Weston Hutto (26:27.1) slashed nearly 20 seconds off his previous season best effort and crossed the finish line in third place. Freshman Cameron Owens-Hunter finished fourth in a time of 26:46.0, while classmate Phillip Quillen claimed sixth place in a time of 27:43.6.
Sophomore Luke Horne improved his time by well more than two minutes from a year ago and finished seventh in a time of 27:46.3. Freshman Ian Yates (28:05.4) improved his season-best time by four seconds and crossed the line in eighth place. Senior John Drummond finished 11th in a time of 29:02.0, while freshman Hayden Tuten finished 13th in a time of 29:21.5.
Freshmen David Rolon (29:41.1) and Riley Dixon (29:55.6) rounded out the Trojan contingent in 14th and 15th place, respectively.
The Trojans are scheduled to get back in action at next Saturday's Piedmont College Invitational in Tallulah Falls, Ga.
