The University of Evansville cross country teams will take on some of the nation’s best on Friday afternoon, as the Purple Aces will take part in the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, North Carolina.  The meet will begin at 2:30 p.m. central time.

Evansville will travel south to take on numerous regionally-ranked teams, including nationally-ranked powers North Carolina State (19th) and Duke (27th).  The Purple Aces will also battle the likes of Georgia Tech (10th regionally for men, ninth regionally for women), Maryland (11th regionally for men, eighth regionally for women), Miami of Florida, and North Carolina (10th regionally for men, seventh regionally for women) in one of UE’s largest meets of the year.

“The competition on Friday afternoon is going to be tremendous,” said UE?head coach Don Walters.  “We’ll face two nationally-ranked teams on the men’s side and a slew of regionally-ranked teams on both the men’s and women’s sides.  This will be a tremendous experience for our runners to be able to compete against some of the top distance runners in the country, and with 18 teams on the women’s side and 17 on the men’s, it should be a great atmosphere for cross country.  I’m really looking forward to Friday’s meet, and I know that a lot of our runners are too.”

Evansville will enter Friday’s Great American Cross Country Festival off of last Saturday’s third and fourth-place showings at the Saluki Invitational in Carbondale, Illinois.  Junior Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial)?continued his break-out junior campaign last week, placing ninth out of 88 competitors in the men’s 8-K race to pace the Purple Aces for the fourth consecutive week.  Meanwhile, on the women’s side, freshman Lauren Zeabart set the pace for the Purple Aces for the second time this season by placing 17th overall.