Women run at 10 a.m. Saturday, men at 11 a.m.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Tech cross country squads open the 2011-12 season Saturday with the program’s traditional trip to the Sewanee Invitational in Sewanee, Tenn.
The meet will be the first of five regular-season meets for the teams leading up to the Ohio Valley Conference Championships on Oct. 29.
“Sewanee is our traditional season-opener, and it gives us a good benchmark as to where we stand and how the summer workouts have been,” said head coach Tony Cox. “Both teams have been training really hard this summer so I think we’re going to have a good showing down this weekend.”
Action begins with the women’s 6K race at 10 a.m., followed by the men’s 8K at 11 a.m. The event will be held at Sewanee Golf Club, which is a hilly course Cox says will test his clubs.
“It’s hilly, and it isn’t a very fast course, but it’s a good chance for us to see where we’re at,” he said. “The women will race a 6K, which is an unusual distance since we usually run 5Ks, but it will be good for us, I think.”
The Golden Eagle men and women both placed fourth at last year’s Sewanee race, where each team was led by a freshman.
Cox expects that same pair of young runners who carried Tech last year to be leading the pack again this weekend, only with a year of experience under their belts.
The coach said he expects sophomores Peri Winborne and Rebecca Cline to lead the women’s team and potentially earn top 10 individual finishes. On the men’s side, Cox anticipates sophomore Matthew Bishop, who placed ninth out of 104 participants at last year’s race, and junior John Greene to lead Tech.
Meet results can be found at ttusports.com as soon as they become available Saturday.