TAMPA – The FGCU men's and women's cross country programs hit the road for the final time leading up to the A-Sun Conference Championship as they travel to Tampa, Fla., for the USF Invitational at The Claw Golf Course on Friday afternoon. The women's 6K is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m., followed by the men's 8K at 5:40 p.m.

"There's a lot of cohesion with our men's and women's teams right now and they've never been closer," said FGCU head coach Cassandra Goodson. "We're just excited to compete in another race before conference. It's a good environment at practice right now and our teams are ready."

A trio of regionally ranked programs will join FGCU in Tampa as Florida State (No. 5, South), Florida (No. 8, South) and Jacksonville (No. 14, South) join the 15th ranked FGCU women, one of two cross country-only programs to appear in the USTFCCCA regional rankings. On the men's side, Florida (No. 5, South) stacks up as the top competition.

A season ago, the FGCU men took home the trophy at the USF Invitational behind a seventh-place finish from Troy Clark (Mount Dora, Fla./Mt. Dora Bible HS), who ran the 8K race in 26:16.71. On the women's side, Brooke Sill led the Eagles to a third-place finish as she placed fifth overall in a time of 18:42.37. Also finishing in the top-15 for the Green and Blue were Courtland Bernard (Sarasota, Fla./Sarasota HS) and Courtney Corradetti (Oceanside, Calif./Vista HS), who came in 13th and 14th with times of 26:42.36 and 19:18.90, respectively.

In their latest meet at the Upstate Invitational, the Green and Blue overcame conditions produced by Hurricane Joaquin en route to a pair of top-five finishes. The women finished third overall and were paced by Morgan Reichert's (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins HS/Ohio) 10th-place finish (19:01.22), while the men finished fifth behind Cody Adkinson's (Port Charlotte, Fla./Port Charlotte HS) 16th-place performance (26:33.02).

Following the USF Invitational, the Eagles will return to Fort Myers and begin preparing for the A-Sun Conference Championship scheduled for Friday, Oct. 30 at 9 a.m. in Jacksonville, Fla. The conference meet will be held at a familiar course as FGCU opened the season at UNF's Hayt Golf Center.

USF INVITATIONAL TEAMS LIST          

Men's Programs	Women's Programs
Bethune-Cookman	Bethune-Cookman
Florida	Florida
Florida A&M	Florida A&M
FAU	FAU
Florida College	Florida College
FGCU	FGCU
Florida Memorial	Florida Memorial
Florida Southern	Florida Southern
Jacksonville	FSU
Keiser	Jacksonville
Miami	Keiser
Palm Beach Atlantic	Miami
Rollins	Palm Beach Atlantic
Saint Leo	Rollins
Tampa	Saint Leo
USF	Tampa
Webber	UCF
	USF
	Webber

 
FOLLOW ALONG
For complete coverage of FGCU men's and women's cross country this season, follow us on Twitter @FGCU_XC and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com.
 
COACH GOODSON
Cassandra Goodson, whose seven seasons at the helm have taken the Eagles from their humble beginnings to a competitive D-I program, highlighted by three trips to the NCAA Southeast Regional Championship. Every mark in the FGCU all-time record book has been etched during the Goodson era, as she has coached nine A-Sun All-Conference selections, the 2013 Female Conference Runner of the Year and two members of the NCAA South All-Region Team.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.