Gators Release 2018 Schedule
Monday, July 23, 2018 | Cross Country
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - With only six weeks remaining until the start of the season, the Florida cross country program has announced its 2018 fall schedule.
The Gators open their schedule at the annual University of North Florida Invitational in Jacksonville on Sept. 7. The races will give UF great starts to its season over the 5,000-meter course. Last season, the Gators concluded with nine top-10 finishes and a pair of personal records for Emily Chapman and Autumn Bartlett. Marshall Dillon also clocked the fastest time for the Gators and was the quickest freshman in that field.
Next, Florida welcomes teams to Gainesville for the Mountain Dew Invitational on Sept. 22. Last season, Hurricane Irma forced the Gators to cancel the high school sections of the invitational last year and feature only a pair of collegiate races and UF has decided to stick with the same format for 2018, with only collegiate competition.
The women are coming off four consecutive Mountain Dew Invitational team titles and won their 12th since the meet was renamed in 2005. Additionally, two UF women finished in the top-10 (Jessica Pascoe and Lauren Perry). The Gators men's cross country team turned in a third place finish last season, with top finishes from Blake Lowery in his first official collegiate race.
Following a two-week recovery, then training 
period after the Mountain Dew Invitational, Florida will split its squads Oct. 12 and 13, sending a group to Tallahassee for the Florida State Invitational and another group to College Station for the inaugural Arturo Barrios Invitational at Texas A&M.
The Arturo Barrios Invitational will give the Gators a sample of BIG 12 competition as it goes up against Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and TCU. The Cowgirls of Oklahoma State finished runner up last season in the BIG 12 XC Championships with Texas finished in a close third. On the men's side, Texas came in second, with Oklahoma State right behind in third. Additionally, this meet with feature four top-25 NCAA finishes from 2017 from Texas' men's team, both Oklahoma State teams and the men of Middle Tennessee.
The conference meet two weeks later will initiate the postseason for the Gators after the women were 13th and the men were 10th at the meet last year. The SEC Championships will be held in Auburn, Ala on the Indian Pines Golf Course.
The Gators will then head to Tallahassee for the NCAA South Regionals on Nov. 9. This year's regionals will be ran at Apalachee Regional Park. Florida will compete to send athletes to Wisconsin's home course for the NCAA Championships for the first time since 2015.
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