SPARTANBURG, S.C. - The Allen University cross country teams competed in the Converse University Kick-Off Meet on Saturday morning and each team came away with 16th place finishes.

The Allen women just missed finishing 15th in the D-2/NAIA field. The Ladies were led by freshman Autumn Clifton who finished 115th out of 150 with a tie of 30:20 in the 6K race. Fellow freshman Deborah Boyd ran well also finishing right behind in 122nd with a time of 31:35. Freshman Siata Ouattara then came in third on the Jackets and 139th overall in a time of 35:37 while another freshman, Myiah Upshaw, came in right behind in 140th at 36:24. 

Four consecutive AU freshmen then finished in a pack from 142-145 place ranging in times from 37:20 to 39:25 including Delaney Frierson, Caseonya Hight, Kiara Wilson, and Nykia Fort. Sophomore Measha Jones and freshman Maya Jackson also competed finishing with times over 41 minutes. 
D-3 Emory GA won the meet while the top time was 21:48. Anderson, Lincoln Memorial, and Converse were the top finishing D-2 schools.

On the men's side, the AU men also finished 16th but ninth among D-2 schools just behind Warren Wilson, USC Aiken and CIU and ahead of Voorhees. Two D-3 Schools won the meet in Emory and Berry while Anderson and Belmont Abbey were the top D-2 finishers.

Leading the way for Allen was freshman Bryant Simpson who ran a time of 34:21 while fellow freshmen Zecchaira Addison and Adrian Driver followed right behind with times of 35:09 and 35:35 respectively. Freshman Tyrone Higgins then came in 4th on the team with a time of 38:44 while freshmen Sean Brown, Jaylen Patterson and sophomore Jabari Moss finished up the scoring for Allen with times of 43:44.

The cross country teams will next return to action on Saturday morning, Sept. 30 at 8:00 AM at the Par Tee Golf center in West Columbia for the Akia McMillian Invite hosted by Columbia College.