SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Ed Carney and Kelvin Kibet each logged top-15 finishes to help lead the men's cross country team to a fourth-place finish, while newcomer Jana Zett finished 15th in the women's race to help the squad finish sixth Friday night at the season-opening USC Upstate Eye Opener.

Carney covered the 8K course in 25:52.3 to finish 13th, while Kelvin Kibet was right behind in 14th with a time of 26:01.0. Ryan Ibarra took 28th at 26:39.3, with Alex Boyer crossing 43rd with a time of 27:01.0, and Payden Lewis taking 51st at 27:12.9. Charlie Miller (27:44.1) was 64th with Jared Bekkering (27:46.3) taking 65th to round out the top seven finishers on the men's side.

Zett took 15th in her collegiate debut and was the first Division II runner to finish in the women's 5K race with a time of 18:32.7. Faith Jeptoo (19:22.0) was 28th, Malea Bennewitz (19:31.8) finished 36th, while Sophia Olszak (personal-best 20:04.7) took 54th. Sarra Belgacem crossed in 66th at 20:27.3, Reid Harvey-McKean ran a 20:40.1 to take 71st, while Kayla Barnhardt was 91st at 21:31.4 to round out the top seven female finishers.
 
As a team, the women's squad posted the best team finish of the six Division II entrants, while the men's team was second amongst non-Division I teams at the meet.
 
UNCP will resume its race schedule on Friday, September 18 at the adidas XC Challenge. The event will be hosted at WakeMed Soccer Park in Raleigh. The men are set to begin to at 5:15 p.m., with the women's race scheduled to follow at 5:55 p.m.