Directions To The UE Cross Country Course
List Of Teams Competing At The 2008 UE Invitational

Nearly 500 runners from over 22 different colleges and universities will descend upon the city of Evansville on Saturday morning, as the University of Evansville cross country teams will host the largest UE Cross Country Invitational on record at the UE Cross Country Course, located at 20404 Barton Road in Evansville.  The women’s 5-K event will kick off the meet at 11:00 a.m., with the men’s 8-K race set to follow.

Saturday’s meet will be the seventh edition of the UE Invitational, which began in 2002 as a three-team warm-up for the conference championship season.  Now, 14 Division I teams and eight non-Division I squads will compete in the final tune-up for the conference championships on Saturday, in one of the largest meets to take place in the country this weekend.

“This will probably be the second-largest meet in the country this weekend, outside of the pre-National Championship meet,” said UE head coach Don Walters.  “The competition on Saturday should be outstanding, as there are some very good teams and outstanding individual runners competing at our meet this weekend.

“It is amazing how well this meet has grown throughout the years.  It is a testament though to the caliber of meet and the caliber of course that we are able to offer to teams around the Midwest.”

On the Division I side, Evansville will get to battle the likes of Missouri Valley Conference rivals Creighton and Southern Illinois on Saturday in a tune-up for the State Farm MVC Championships, which will take place on Saturday, November 1 in Springfield, Missouri.  The Salukis are the early favorites to vie for the overall team title, after the SIU men won the team title and the women finished fourth at the 34-team Louisville Classic two weeks ago and received Top 30 attention in the USTFCCCA national poll. 

Austin Peay, Eastern Illinois, Murray State, SIU-Edwardsville, Tennessee-Martin and Tennessee Tech will all compete on Saturday out of the Ohio Valley Conference.  Marshall from Conference USA will also make the trip to Evansville on Saturday, as will Horizon League member Valparaiso, Summit League member IUPUI, and Nashville, Tennessee rivals Belmont and Lipscomb.

Nationally-ranked crosstown rival Southern Indiana will lead a strong group of lower-division squads, including nearby rivals Kentucky Wesleyan, Brescia, and Vincennes University, as well as Evangel University and the St. Louis College of Pharmacy from Missouri, Lincoln Memorial University from Tennessee, and Marian College from Indianapolis.

“Across the board, there are some outstanding teams coming to this weekend’s meet,” said Walters.  “For our teams to be successful, we need to make sure to tighten the gap between our top five runners and be able to run as a tight pack.  We have done a good job of racing as a pack so far this year, but if we are able to do that this weekend, it will greatly help us as a team. 

“The real key this weekend though is to get ready for the Valley Championships in two weeks.  Running well at the conference meet has been our goal all season long, and this meet will only help us achieve that goal.”

The UE men were able to defend their overall team title at the Tennessee Tech Invitational last time out, as junior Greg Pulscher (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty)?led a pack of three Purple Aces in the top five with a second-place individual finish.  The UE women, meanwhile, placed third in the eight-team Tennessee Tech Invite last time out, as sophomore Melissa Truex (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) led a pack of six Purple Aces who finished in the top 20 with a 10th-place finish.

Saturday’s UE Invitational will mark the final home meet for UE seniors Andrew Kunz (Muncie, Ind./Burris), Katie Bowlds and Megan Bowlds (Lexington, Ky./Paul Dunbar) and Franny Enzler (Evansville, Ind./Memorial).  The Creighton men and the Murray State women are the defending team champions for the UE Invitational.