SPARTANBURG, S.C.- The Savannah State cross country teams competed in the Eye Opener Invitational, their first meet of the season, on September 5. The meet was hosted by South Carolina-Upstate.
 
Senior Asea Mayfield and sophomore Micah Richards were the first SSU runners to cross the finish line for the Savannah State women's and men's teams, respectively.
 
Mayfield finished the race with a time of 24:24.23 for 93rd place out of 157 runners.
 
The SSU women's squad consisted of one senior one junior and three freshmen.
 
Competing in their first collegiate meet were Kortney Sizemore (27:37.93), Ashley Goss (29:43.78) and Amari Calhoun (30:06.38). Junior Alysia Potts ran the 5k course in 30:04.54.
 
As a team, the SSU women finished 18th with a average time of 28:23.57.
 
Richards ran the 8k course in 30 minutes and 12.19 seconds which was good enough for 49th place overall among the 133 runners.
 
Freshmen Corey Jones (31:04.53) and Kenneth Nealy (32:19.14) were 55th and 77th overall while junior Brandon Davis (33:58.66) was 89th. Freshmen Randolph Barrett (36:00.67) and Collins King (36.22:91) round out the Tiger participants.
 
Of the 17 teams, the Savannah State men finished 14th and had an average time of 32 minutes and 43.03 seconds.