AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn cross country team will compete in its second meet of the season at the Southern Showcase, in Huntsville, on Friday, Sept. 18th. The meet will be held at the John Hunt Cross Country Park with the men’s 8k at 7:30 a.m. CT, followed by the women's 5k at 8:10 a.m. CT.
“I think it's going to be a similar environment [as the season opener],” said Foster. “Similar expectations: go out, run as hard as you can, do your best, and let's have fun because that's what we're doing, too.”
Last year at the Southern Showcase, the men finished fourth and the women were seventh.
The course also hosted the NCAA South Regionals last November, where junior Nickson Chebii individually qualified for the NCAA Championships with his third-place finish and personal best 10k time of 29:13.47.
All seven of the men will compete this weekend against 31 teams, including Alabama, Baylor and Clemson. The women’s team will have eight athletes lined up against 29 teams, racing against SEC rivals Alabama and Mississippi State.
The Tigers enter the weekend with momentum after securing a women’s team victory and individual wins for both genders at the JSU Foothills Invitational two weeks ago.
Freshman Faith Chelangat led the women with a personal best of 16:10.7 in her first race at Auburn, nearly a full minute ahead of the second-place runner. She was named SEC Women's Runner of the Week after her victory.
“I have never seen someone so happy or ecstatic to race,” said Foster about Chelangat. “It was delightful. A lot of times, when you get to the line, there are some nerves that kick in for different athletes, but she was just grinning ear to ear and couldn't wait to go. That was really fun to see.”
The men’s individual champion, senior Max Hardin, won his first collegiate cross country race, crossing in 15:02.4.
“I don't think we will be quite as conservative as we were at our first meet,” Foster said. “I think we're going to let them go a little bit more.”
Live results can be found at https://live.xpresstiming.com.