SFA Cross Country Heads to Natchitoches
10/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 2, 2005
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin cross country teams will return to action Monday when they compete at the Northwestern State Invitational in Natchitoches, La. The meet will end a two-week lull for the Ladyajack squad, and several members of the men's team will also run, marking their first competition in three weeks.
The Ladyjacks are coming off a fourth-place finish at the Rice Invitational. That meet was highlighted by junior Ashley Monteau's individual win. She completed the 4,000-meter course in 14:24. Monday's women's race will cover 6,000 meters.
"This will be our first 6K of the season," SFA coach Lou Snelling said. "It will be a good experience for our girls to have before we get to some of our bigger meets, like the Chili Pepper Invitational, conference and regional.
"It will be a decent-sized meet with solid competition," Snelling said, noting that Southland Conference teams McNeese, Louisiana-Monroe and Nicholls are expected to be among the meet's field.
The Lumberjack runners were late additions to the Northwestern State meet, after their trip to North Carolina for the Great American Cross Country Festival last weekend was canceled due to travel concerns stemming from the approach of Hurricane Rita. The meet featured several high-profile collegiate teams from across the country.
"The guys were really excited about going out there and taking a shot at some of those nationally ranked teams," Snelling said. "So of course they were disappointed to not get to go. We'll try to work out the schedule to have another shot at something like that later on down the line."
Monday's meet will be the Lumberjacks' first since finishing second at the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 10.
"We're at a very high level of training right now," Snelling said. "Both teams are pretty excited about how our training is going and what we'll have a chance to do at the end of the season."
-- SFA --
