Sept. 30, 2009
AUBURN - The Auburn cross country team heads into its third meet of the season this weekend, as the teams will travel to Madison, Wisc., to take part in the third annual Wisconsin adidas Invitational on Saturday.
The Invitational will feature several elite cross country programs and unattached/open/club athletes. Teams scheduled to participate include: Arkansas, Auburn, Brigham Young, Duke, Georgetown, Illinois, Iowa, Lamar, Marquette, Michigan, Nebraska, Syracuse, Texas A&M, UW-La Crosse and Wisconsin. The men will run an 8K race at 11 a.m., while the women will follow with a 5K race at 11:45 a.m.
The men will enter this weekend's race in Madison with a No. 20 national ranking, as well as a No. 6 South Region ranking according to the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) behind SEC foes Alabama, Florida and Tennessee. The women enter the race with a No.4 ranking in the South Region, trailing Florida State as well as SEC opponents Florida and Alabama.
Junior Holly Knight enters the race fresh off earning SEC Athlete of the Week honors for her performance at the Crimson Classic. Knight placed second out of 92 runners at the race with a conference-leading 5k time of 17:16.90. She now has finished first and second in both of her races this season after winning the two-mile Troy Trojan Invitational to open the season with a two-mile time of 10:55.46.
Also slated to run for the women are Laurel Pritchard, Allison Smith, Grace Pritchard, Steph Barnes and Cathryn Albright.
The men will enter Felix Kiboiywo, Ben Cheruiyot, Jean-Pierre Weerts, Scott Novack, Jeff Sanders and Charles Mitchell.