KENNESAW,Ga.- Getting ready for their final sprint into the postseason, the women’s cross country team  is again visiting the Moccasin Bend Race Course in Chattanooga, Tenn. for the UTC Front Runner Invitational.  After a fifth place finish on the same grass earlier this season, the women look to it as a final warm up before the Atlantic Sun championship Oct 30.

Having run against teams from all over the country so far this season, the women will have more localized competition to face in schools from Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. For head cross country coach Stan Sims, this is the perfect kind of race to have before the push into the A-Sun championship.

“We decided it was best to stay close to home this weekend” Sims said. “The UTC meet provides a short course for us and we will use it as a tune-up for the A-Sun championship. I want us to run a somewhat wide-open race.”

Last week, the women’s squad was able to pull out a solid performance at the Region preview meet in the Samford Invitational. Mackenzie Howe led all the women with a second place finish in a time of 18:02. That finish also won her the A-Sun runner of the week award along with teammate Piotr Witczak, who won it on the men’s side.

Running in the UTC Power Ade Invitational which is ran on the same course, the team started off their season with a fifth place finish and Howe started off her season with a first place victory. Newcomers Heather Morris, Haley Carson, Stephanie Sawyer and Alison Wald found themselves all in the top 40.
Coach Sims knows that even though it’s a shorter race than what the ladies are used to, the course will still provide a solid benchmark for how the season has been progressing.

“Having competed on this course earlier in the season we will have a gauge to measure improvement,” Sims said. “The ladies had a good week of hard training as well and expect all of them to compete to get ready for a good conference run.”


Quick Facts

Event Name: UTC Front Runner Invitational

Host: University of Tennnessee-Chattanooga

Location: Moccasin Bend Race Course

Start Time: 3:30 P.M

Distance: 2 mile

2009 Owl Finish, Score: N/A

2009 Owl Top Finishers: N/A

Schools Participating (8): Tennessee, Samford University, West Georgia, Tennessee State, Kennesaw State, Univ. of Tennessee-Chattanooga, Trevvecca Nazarene, Middle Tennessee