Cross Country Heads to Maine
Friday, October 3, 2003 | Cross Country
Meet Information
Location: Orono, Maine
Distances: Women - 5K; Men - 5 miles
Schedule: Women - 9 a.m.;bMen - 10 a.m.
Running for Florida: Women - Diane Avigne, Carling Cookerly, Mallory Dunn, Elly Kabboord, Kay Lennon, Jacqueline Mariani, Jessica Newton, Jennifer Riley
Men - Jose Garcia, Steven Hassen, Moise Joseph, Philip Laird, Jeremy Miller, Daniel Parker, Cory Presnick, Brent Schneider, Adam Sisler, Steve Zieminski
Pigg Says: “This is going to be the first meet that really feels like cross country season. We'll be running in a cooler, fall climate. It will be more like what we will see for SEC Championships, regionals and NCAAs. We are also going to get to run against some real good cross country programs. We will be racing against the best competition all year, and some teams we wouldn't normally see until Pre-NCAAs or nationals. This is another logical step for both teams. Each meet we challenge ourselves a little more and get better and better each time out.”
The Florida Cross Country teams take off to Orono, Maine this weekend for the 12th Annual Finish Lynx/Murray Keatinge Invitational. For the first time this seaosn Florida will face teams ranked in the national polls, including the nation's top ranked team. It is also the first time this season the Gators will run in a cooler climate, though still warmer than what they will encounter at the NCAA Championships in Cedar Fall, Iowa in December.
The Competition ...
The women's teams in the Bulldog Stampede are No. 9 Stanford, No. 17 Penn State, Indiana (rv), Oklahoma, Butler, Central Connecticut, Holy Cross, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine and Canada's St. Francis Xavier. Florida has not faced any of these teams yet this season. The teams in this weekend's race are from six different regions. Five teams are from the Northeast Region, Stanford is from the West, Indiana and Butler, the Great Lakes, Oklahoma, the Midwest, and Penn State the Mid-Atlantic.
Weather Report ...
Coach Pigg says this weekend's meet will be the first to feel like cross country season. The most important meets of the season (SEC Championships, NCAA Regionals and the NCAA Championships) happen later in the fall and in cooler, drier climates than Florida. There is the chance of frost and freezing Friday night with temperatures in the low 30s. The forecast for Orono, according to weather.com is a high of 46 degrees and mostly cloudy at race time tomorrow.
