GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Jacksonville State men's and women's cross country teams finished third in the Gene Mullin Invitational, hosted by Furman University.
 
After a solid finish last weekend in the JSU-hosted Foothills Hills Invitational, both squads continued to show improvement as the 2014 schedule comes down the stretch leading in to the Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships on the first Saturday of November.
 
For the second consecutive outing, sophomore Ju-ells McLeod paced the women's squad with a top-10 finish.  The McDonough, Georgia-native covered the 5K in 19:46.90.  Closely behind her again this week was senior Whitley Towns.  Towns turned in a mark of 20:07.52 to claim 13^th in the individual standings.
 
The rest of the JSU women finished bunched up, placing from 19^th through 25^th place.  Briana Jackson crossed the finish line in 21:40.56 and in the 16^th spot.  Dayja Simon, Gina Carnovale, Taylor Uebersetzig, Hannah Pelham and Celia Wigington rounded out the team scoring for Jax State.
 
In the men's competition, senior Mickey Sanders led the Gamecock contingent with a 14^th-place spot.  Sanders recorded a time of 16:24.04 in the 5K event.  Jordan Cummins and Stephen Payne finished back-to-back at 18^th and 19^th with times of 16:45.81 and 16:52.66.  Ben Pryor paced a trio of JSU runners that finished 21^st through 25^th.  Pryor was just ahead of Alexander Beverly and Paul Lueck.
 
JSU will have its final tune up for the OVC meet next weekend as it takes part in the Crimson Classic on Oct. 17 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.