PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Four American schools will gear up this weekend, as the rest of the conference takes the week off to prepare for next week’s action.
The conference’s Florida schools will be the only teams in action on Friday, Oct. 6. UCF will run for the third straight week at the Disney Invitational, as the Knights are coming off a first place finish at the Florida Runners Invitational last weekend. Freshman Beth Williams has been the top finisher for UCF in two meets, while Kalleigh Forrester finished first for UCF in the team’s most recent race.
Returning to action after taking a week off, both the USF men’s and women’s teams are set to head to the Florida State Invitational. USF most recently competed at the Mountain Dew Invitational hosted by Florida and will be seeing many of the same opponents from that race this weekend. John Weaver and Rania Samhouri have been the top runners in their respective meets for each of USF’s three races this season.
Temple’s men’s and women’s teams will stay local and race in their fourth meet on Saturday, Oct. 7 at the Jack St. Clair Memorial Invite. The race is located at the Belmont Plateau in Philadelphia, Pa., which is the site of the 2017 American Cross Country Championship.
The Owls men’s squad improved to ranking No. 8 in the USTFCCCA Mid-Atlantic Region and are undefeated through their first three races this year. The team most recently captured the title in the five mile Gold Race at the Notre Dame/Joe Piane Invitational last weekend, which Tulane also ran in. Temple's top finisher was freshman Kristian Jensen who finished the five-mile course in 24:48.2 to place sixth overall.
The Owls women’s team also jumped up the rankings to No. 8 in the Mid-Atlantic Region. The women’s team has won two races this year and is coming off a second place finish in the Joe Piane Invitational. Competing in the 5K Gold Race, which also featured Wichita State, Grace Moore led the pack with a sixth place finish and time of 17:29.2.
The UConn women’s team will head into Boston, Mass. for the New England Championship held at the historic Franklin Park this weekend. The Huskies finished 11th overall in this meet last year. The women will face a field of nearly 35 teams that could include 10 regionally ranked New England teams. The Huskies are No. 10 in the Northeast Region and are coming off a 16th place finish at the Paul Short Run last weekend, led by freshman Brianna O'Brien. UConn has two first place finishes this year after winning the Minuteman Invitational and the UB Stampede Invitational.
Cross Country Schedule
Friday, Oct. 6
Disney Invitational (Buena Vista, Fla.)
-UCF
Florida State Invitational (Tallahassee, Fla.)
- USF (
Men’s and Women’s)
Saturday, Oct. 7
Jack St. Clair Memorial Invite (Philadelphia, Pa.)
- Temple (
Men’s and Women’s)
New England Championship (Boston, Mass.)
- UConn (
Women’s)