Meet: Mount St. Mary's Dual Invite
When: 6:30pm
Where: Emmitsburg, MD
The 2005 season will be kicked off tonight with the Mount St. Mary's Invitational. This meet is a bit different than regular invitationals, in that it will be scored as a dual meet. In essence, each team will be running against one another and not against a whole field. The teams attending are George Washington, Loyola, Morgan State and UMBC. Last year, the meet was of the 5k variety for both men and women and was won by Maksudal Ali (Navy, 15:48) on the men's side and Keira Carlstron (American, 17:37) on the women's side. The top returning runners to this year's meet are Izudin Mehmedovic (UMBC, 15:49) and Cara Wettlaufer (UMBC, 19:15). It should be neat to see how the dual meet aspect turns out.
Source: http://mountathletics.collegesports.com/sports/c-xc/mstm-c-xc-body.html
Saturday - 9/03
Meet: Baltimore Metro Invite
Time: 10:00am
Where: Oregon Ridge Park
The Towson Tigers start off their season with a home meet against McDaniel College, Goucher College, and Johns Hopkins University. This is the first of 3 home meets for the Tigers this season, who also hold next weekend's Towson Invitational. At last year's meet, junior Megan Lerch led Towson to a home win with a 5k time of 19:23. Paul Hugus of McDaniel won last year with a time of 27:59 for the 8k race.
Source: http://www.towsontigers.com/sports/xcountry
Meet: Shippensburg U Tri-Meet
Time: 10:30am
Where: Shippensburg, PA
Frostburg State University and Hagerstown Community College will be paying a visit to Shippensburg, PA over the weekend for the Shippensburg Tri-Meet. The meet will also include Shippensburg alumni. Last year, the men's race was 6 kilometers in length, and had the Shippensburg team barely beating the Shippensburg alumni team by 1 point, 27-28. The men's title was won by Allen Pryde in 19:21. FSU Bobcats Curt Ruble (So) and Sid Bittenger (Sr), led the team with 13th and 17th place finishes, respectively. On the women's side, the race was 4k in length. The Lady Bobcats finished 2nd last year being led by Bonnie Axman (Jr). The race looks to be competitve again as the teams do not lose any top runners from last year's meet.
Source: http://sports.frostburg.edu/news/releasedetailmcc.cfm?id_number=2783
Meet: Seagull Opener
Time: 10:00am
Where: Winter Place Park, Salisbury, MD
The Salisbury U Seagull Opener will play host to 9 teams this year: Franklin and Marshall, Millersville, Howard Community College, UNC Wilmington, Christopher Newport U, Waynesburg, Navy, Rowan, and Messiah College. The men's course is 8k and extremely flat. Last year, the meet winners were Bobby Dressler of Messiah in 25:42 and Beth Green in 21:29. It should be a great starting meet for these teams as they compete on fast terrain and should make for some good times to start the season.
Source: http://www.salisbury.edu/athletics/crosscountry/2nd/xcschd2004.asp
Meet: UMES Lid Lifter Invitational
Time: All Day
Where: Princess Anne, MD
The University of Maryland Eastern Shore will host the Lid Lifter Invitational this weekend. Bowie State (MD) will attend the meet as well. The meet was not run last year, but in 2003, Norfolk State took home the team men's and women's titles. UMES won both the men's and women's individual races with top finishes from Barnabas Togom (27:07) and Eva Slavikova (19:28). UMES will also host another home meet this season, the Cappy Anderson Invitational on Sept. 24.
Source: http://umeshawks.collegesports.com/sports/c-xc/spec-rel/090603aaa.html
MDrunners will have results for all of these races and a review of the running weekend by Sunday night. This will be the first of the preview/review articles for the upcoming season. Enjoy and have a great holiday weekend!