North Charleston, SC - The Allen University cross country teams competed at the season-opening Charleston Southern Open on Friday morning. Each team came away with an 8th place finish in the open that included four D1 teams. 

The men competed in a 6K race (3.7 miles) while the women ran a 4K race (2.5 miles). The men were led by freshman Zeccharia Addison who finished in 63rd place with a time of 27:55 while freshman teammate Sean Brown came in right behind in 65th place in a time of 27:57. Freshman Bryant Simpson then placed 67th in a time of 30:35 while fellow freshman Jaylen Patterson was 70th in 33:37. Wrapping up the scoring for Allen was all-conference sophomore sprinter Zalyn Myers who finished 72nd in a time of 42:27.

Winning the open was Jordan Smith of CSU in a time of 18:56 while CSU also own the men's team portion followed by Coastal Carolina. Allen just missed taking over 7th place from Coker University by a slim 10 points. 

Leading the women in the 4K CSU Open was junior Autumn Clifton who placed 49th in a time of 22:18. Freshman Siara Outtara then came in 57th place in a time of 25:38 while freshman teammate Caseyona Hight finished 60th in 26:03. Coming in 4th on the team for the Lady Jackets was freshman Kiara Wilson in 65th place in a time of 28:26 while junior Measha Jones was 5th on the team to complete the scoring and 66th overall crossing the line in 30:04. 
Freshmen Maya Jackson and Nykia Fort also competed for the Jackets with Jackson running a time of 30:49 while Fort came across just a second behind in 30:50.

Winning the meet was Coastal by a point over CSU while Allen finished just 9 points behind Claflin for 7th place while Coastal's individual won the meet in 15:00.

The cross country teams will next return to the course on Sept. 16 at Converse University in Spartanburg at 9:00 AM.