--Directions To The UE Cross Country Course (PDF)
Over 300 runners from 17 different schools across the Midwest will take to the University of Evansville Cross Country Course on Saturday to take part in the eighth-annual UE Cross Country Invitational. The meet will begin at 11:00 a.m. central time with the men’s 8-K race, while the women’s 5-K race is set to follow.
The UE Invitational will bring together 10 Division I universities and seven non-Division I teams in one of each school’s final meets until their conference championships. For UE, it will be the Purple Aces’ final meet before the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Peoria, Illinois on October 31.
“Saturday’s meet is very important to us,” said UE head coach
Don Walters. “It is really our final dress rehearsal, if you will, before the conference championships, and Saturday’s results will help determine which eight men and women will represent the team at the conference meet.”
UE has been off from competition since October 2, when the Purple Aces placed fifth and sixth respectively at the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, North Carolina. The Purple Aces men will once again turn to Evansville native
Ryan Witters to set the pace, as Witters is coming off a career-best 8-K performance of 25:25 which earned him UE’s Student-Athlete of the Week honors.
“Ryan has been running extremely well this entire season,” said Walters. “From our very first meet this year on, you could tell that he was going to be up towards the front for us with his leadership and determination. Hopefully, he will be able to continue his strong junior season on Saturday.”
“Lauren has really emerged as a factor for us as the season has gone along, and she has a very bright future ahead of her at UE,” said Walters. “The women have been really working hard in practice the last two weeks, and I’m expecting a good showing from them on Saturday.”
UE will be joined on the course this Saturday by the following teams:
Division I Teams
Austin Peay (M/W)
Belmont (Women Only)
Eastern Illinois (M/W)
Lipscomb (M/W)
Marshall (M/W)
Murray State (M/W)
Southeast Missouri State (M/W)
Tennessee-Martin (M/W)
Tennessee Tech (M/W)
UE (M/W)
Non-Division I Teams
Brescia (M + 3 females)
Danville Area C.C. (M + 3 females)
Evangel (M/W)
Kentucky Wesleyan (M + 2 females)
Marian (M/W)
St. Louis College of Pharmacy (M/W)
Vincennes (M/W)
The UE Cross Country Course is located at 20404 Barton Road in Evansville.
