Oct. 15, 2010
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AUBURN, Ala.--After a three week hiatus from competition, the Auburn men's and women's cross country teams return to the course this weekend at the 2010 Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival. The men are set to begin at 9:45 a.m. running a 10K, and the women are schedule to run a 5K at 10:30 a.m. on the Agri Park cross country course on the University of Arkansas' campus in Fayetteville.
The Tigers have used their time away from competition to focus on training and preparing for this weekend's meet.
"The three weeks of training went very well for both teams," head coach Mark Carroll said. "We have seen significant improvements in workout intensities and everyone is focused and in a positive frame of mind for this weekend's competition."
The men's race field features five top-25 teams including No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 6 Arkansas, No. 7 Indiana, No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 21 Tulsa and also SEC foe LSU. In the women's race, No. 21 Tulsa, No. 25 Arkansas, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and SMU are the notable competition scheduled to compete.
"This weekend's races will bring a much higher level of competition," Carroll added.
Auburn runners Ben Cheruiyot and Holly Knight won their respective races in their last outing Sept. 25 at the Brooks Memphis Twilight Cross Country Classic, and have been preparing to have strong individual performances this weekend as well.
"Since Memphis, both Holly and Ben have continued their preparations with excellent race-specific workouts," Carroll said. "Both Holly and Ben are ready for the challenge this weekend."