Women's Cross Country Runs at Home Saturday
9/15/2005 12:00:00 AM
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After opening the season on the road in Nashville, the Alabama women’s cross country team lines up at home Saturday for the Crimson Classic.
There will be just over 100 runners from a dozen collegiate teams in the women’s race cover a 5-kilometer course. The meet will be run at the Harry Pritchett Golf Course in Tuscaloosa. This will be the 17th running of the Classic, which was canceled last season due to the threat of Hurricane Ivan.
“We’re glad to be running at home and it looks like the weather is going to cooperate this year,” Alabama head coach Steve Keith said. “I think one of the best things about collegiate athletics is the chance to compete at home in front of friends, family and the local fans. We will be looking to take care of business out on the course, and I think we’ll get quite a boost from the home crowd.”
The day will get underway with the men’s collegiate race at 9 a.m. followed by the women’s collegiate race at 9:45 a.m. Following the collegiate portion of the meet there will, staring at 10:30 a.m., be a men and women’s high school race followed by a men and women’s junior high school races.
Alabama and the rest of the competition will also get a boost from competing on a dedicated cross country course. When the Harry Pritchett Golf Course closed two years ago, it gave the Crimson Tide the unique ability to groom the course specifically for cross country races.
“I think our course is a real plus,” Keith said. “It’s something you don’t see very often and we’ve really enjoyed the opportunity over the last two years.”
The Tide, led by the juniors Julia Hicks, Megan Carnes and Elizabeth Wancowicz, redshirt sophomore Tara Enebak and freshmen Molly McNutt and Katie Davis, will be battling with Mississippi State and Samford for top honors.
At the Tide’s first meet of the season, the aptly named Belmont Opener, Hicks finished second in the overall race, leading the Tide to a fourth place finish among a packed field.
