Louisville, Ky. – The FGCU men's and women's cross country teams will hit the road for the fourth time this season as they head to Louisville, Ky., for the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic, scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 4. Consistently praised as one of the most popular meets for the collegiate season, the 13th-annual classic will live up to the hype as over 2,600 student-athletes from 125 programs will join the Eagles in this weekend's meet, which is the second largest in the country for 2014.
Racing through the prestigious E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park, which has played host to five Southeast Regional Championships and two NCAA Championships, events will kick off for the Green and Blue at 9:30 a.m. with the men's Gold Race 8K, followed by the women's Blue Race 5k at 11:30 a.m.
"This weekend is a great opportunity for us," head coach
Cassandra Goodson said. "Not only do we get to face schools from our conference, we get to compete against multiple teams that will most likely end their seasons at the NCAA Championship. We enjoyed racing in this meet in 2012 and have been pushing ourselves over the past few weeks to prepare for this challenge."
Saturday marks the Eagles second all-time appearance at the classic, after the men claimed 11th-place and the women 26th in 2012. This weekend's field is not only the largest but one of the most competitive the Eagles will see this season as it features squads ranked and receiving votes in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) poll. Naming a total 29 programs to the men's Gold Race, FGCU will see big-time competition in No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 23 Eastern Kentucky, Virginia Tech (
receiving votes), Ohio State, Louisville, Illinois and Atlantic Sun Conference members Lipscomb, Northern Kentucky and Kennesaw State. The women's Gold 5K will feature FGCU, West Virginia, Louisville, Missouri and 38 others.
Its last time out the FGCU men's team placed fourth at the University of Florida Mountain Dew Invite while the women claimed sixth.
Leading the FGCU men for the second time of the season was freshman
Troy Clark, placing 20th overall after recording a 25:32.84, which ranks seventh in the all-time record book and is the fastest an FGCU freshman has ever recorded. Next to cross was
Nathan Kandie in 30th with a 25:57.92, directly followed by
Courtland Bernard in 31st with a 25:59.11 to round out the Eagles top three. On the women's side, FGCU did something no Eagle squad had ever done before, as the first five to cross the finish line from the Green and Blue finished the race in less than 19 minutes. First-year member
Brooke Sill continued to lead the Eagles finishing 18th overall with a 17:58.35, a time one minute and 41 seconds faster than the 19:39.56 she posted to begin the season, and her cross country career, at the Stetson Hatter Invite on August 30.
After they return from Louisville, the Eagles will travel to Tallahassee for a Friday night race at the FSU Invite on Oct. 10 at 6:20 p.m. For complete coverage of FGCU men's and women's cross country at the Greater Louisville Classic, follow us on Twitter @FGCU_XC and visit
www.FGCUAthletics.com.
MEET INFORMATION MEN'S GOLD - Eastern Illinois University; Lipscomb University; University of Cincinnati; University of Southern Indiana; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Western Ontario University; University of Mississippi; Eastern Kentucky University; University of Detroit Mercy; Ohio State University; Middle Tennessee State University; University of Wisconsin; University of Georgia; Clemson University; University of Illinois; University of Louisville; Morehead State University; University of Missouri; University of Mount Olive; University of St. Francis;
FGCU; Virginia Tech University; Northern Kentucky University; Tennessee Wesleyan College; University of Tennessee; Western Kentucky University; Coastal Carolina University; Southeast Missouri State; Kennesaw State University
WOMEN'S BLUE - University of St. Francis; Bloomsburg University; Mercer University; Seton Hill University; Marshall University; Lewis University; Bentley University; Emmanuel College; Queens University of Charlotte; Edinboro University; Rhodes College; Hope College; Wingate University; Liberty University; King University; University of The Cumberlands;
FGCU; University of Evansville; Indiana Tech University; University of Tampa; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee; Bellarmine University; Tennessee Wesleyan College; University of Detroit Mercy; Lee University; West Virginia University- B; Campbell University; Trevecca Nazarene University; Radford University; Union University; Belmont University;University of Montevallo; Centre College; University of Southern Indiana; University of Louisville B; Wheeling Jesuit University; Indiana University of Pennsylvania; University of Missouri- B; Robert Morris College (Ill); Shorter University; Indiana Wesleyan University; University of Mount Olive
