The University of Evansville cross country teams will return to the trail Saturday morning, as the Purple Aces will head south to Huntsville, Alabama to compete in the Fleet Feet Sports/Earl Jacoby Memorial.  The men’s 8,000-meter event will kick off the morning’s race at 9:00 a.m. central time, with the women’s 5,000-meter race set to follow at 9:45.

Evansville has enjoyed good success at the Earl Jacoby Memorial, placing second on the men’s side each of the last two years, with the UE women also capturing a second-place finish last year as well.  The Purple Aces also produced the overall male winner last season in current junior Greg Pulscher (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty).  Pulscher will be out to defend his individual title on Saturday morning.

UE has posted top five finishes on both the men’s and women’s sides this year in each of the Purple Aces’ first three meets.  Evansville has been led by a strong pack mentality, which placed UE’s top five runners within 45 seconds of one another on both the men’s and women’s sides last Friday at the Eastern Illinois Panther Open. 

Last week, sophomore Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) paced the men’s team to a fourth-place finish by clocking in with an 8-K time of 26:31.71, while sophomore Melissa Truex (Indianapolis, Ind./Perry Meridian) led the UE women to a third place finish by placing 15th overall with a 5-K time of 19:35.63.

“Last week, I felt like both teams did a good job of packing together, as the first five women came across within 30 seconds of one another, and the men finished within 45 seconds of each other,” said UE head coach Don Walters.  “Hopefully, we can continue to build on that mentality on Saturday, and trim the deficit even more.  If we can do that, it will definitely help us score out well, especially when we go to bigger meets.”