AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn cross country team returns to action Friday afternoon as it makes the journey to South Bend, Ind. to compete in the Joe Piane Invitational. The event will be held at Burke Golf Course with the women's gold 5k race beginning at 12:30 p.m. CT and the men's gold five-mile race at 1:15 p.m. CT.
"We're excited to get up there and compete," Auburn cross country coach Aaron Kindt said. "This race is traditionally a very fast and competitive one. Just about every top-25 team you can name is going to be there this weekend. Seeing competition like this early and often will be important for our young group. It will be a great way for us to see where we stack up against some of the best in the country."
A total of 61 universities will be represented at the meet, including 12 top-30 women's programs and 10 top-30 men's programs.
Running for the Auburn women will be seniors Louisa McPherson and Presley Weems, junior Sara Pacer, sophomore Samantha Rogers and freshmen Hallie Porterfield and Hannah Thuss.
Also running for the women will be senior All-American and national champion Joyce Kimeli as she makes her season debut.
Making the trip to South Bend for the Auburn men will be seniors Tommy McDonough and Jackson Thomas, junior Evan Rogers, sophomores Carson Bedics and Ryan Kinnane and freshmen Benson and Cooper Atkins.
Kinnane led the way for the Tigers at the previous meet with a personal-best 24:56.5 in the men's 8k.
In addition to the rest of the field, the Tigers will go toe-to-toe with five Southeastern Conference foes over the course of the meet, including #6/#15 Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, #15/#18 Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
Live timing for the meet can be found at pttiming.com.
Up Next
Auburn will return to Tallahassee, Fla. to compete at FSU Pre-Nationals Friday, Oct. 15.
