GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The FGCU men's and women's cross country teams return to action Saturday, Sept. 20, as they take to the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville for the 26th annual Mountain Dew Invite hosted by the University of Florida. Twenty-seven men's teams are slated to compete in the 8K race, which begins at 7:55 a.m., followed by the women's 5K at 8:30 a.m. featuring 29 schools.
"We're excited to get back to Gainesville and compete on a familiar course," head coach
Cassandra Goodson said. "We had a good showing last year against a tough field so it will be interesting to see how we build on that. We've had a good start to the early season and are ready to continue moving forward."
Saturday marks the Eagles 10th overall and eighth-consecutive appearance in the invite, with last year yielding their best results to date as the men's team finished a program-best fourth overall and the women 11th after former-Eagle
Kelly Perzanowski won the 5k in record time.
The invite's field is one of the most competitive the Eagles will see this season as Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, UCF, USF and four from the Atlantic Sun Conference join FGCU to race in The Swamp. Despite the meet's challenging nature, the Eagles look forward to Saturday with confidence as they aim to build on the success they have already registered in 2014. So far this season both teams have posted winning performances with the women taking first at the Stetson Hatter Invite and the men finishing at the top of the South Florida Invite.
Its last time out the FGCU women's team placed third at the South Florida Invite with six of the team's members finishing inside the top 25. Standing out for the Green and Blue so far is first-year member
Brooke Sill (Lake Zurich, Ill./Eastern Illinois University), who has led the Eagles in both of this season's races, winning the Stetson Hatter Invite and finishing fifth overall at USF with an 18:42.37. Pacing the men to victory at USF was freshman
Troy Clark (Mount Dora, Fla./Mt. Dora Bible HS), taking seventh overall after recording a 26:16.71.
The Green and Blue will get a second taste of A-Sun competition this weekend as they are set to face Jacksonville, Kennesaw State, North Florida and Stetson. The Eagles season opener in DeBary saw the FGCU women soar past UNF and Stetson while the men beat the Hatters but finished eight points behind UNF and one behind Lipscomb.
After they return from Gainesville, the Eagles will travel to the Bluegrass State for the Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic hosted by the University of Louisville on Oct. 4. For complete coverage of FGCU men's and women's cross country at the Mountain Dew Invite, follow us on Twitter @FGCU_XC and visit
www.FGCUAthletics.com.
MEET INFORMATION COMPLETE FIELDAve Maria
Edward Waters
Embry-Riddle
Flagler
Florida
Florida A&M
Florida Atlantic
Florida College
FGCU
Florida Southern
Florida State (women only)
Florida Tech
Georgia Tech
Jacksonville
Johnson & Wales (Fla.)
Kennesaw State
Miami
North Florida
Northwood (Fla.)
Saint Leo
South Florida
Southeastern
St. Thomas (Fla.)
Stetson (women only)
Tampa
Troy
UCF (women only)
Warner (men only)
Webber
West Florida
PARKINGParking and admittance to the Mountain Dew Invitational is free. Spectators can park at the University of Florida Law School, located on the corner of SW 2nd Avenue and Village Drive.
