MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — The Carson-Newman Cross Country team will get a chance to build on its tremendous performance in their first meet of the year when they host the Carson-Newman Challenge at Panther Creek Park Saturday morning.

"Any race event at Panther Creek Park is always very competitive and challenging," C-N cross country coach Whitney Lee said. "The course is one of the most difficult that we race in a given year. We're so lucky to have PCP as our practice venue. It prepares us for anywhere we go to compete."

Junior Lauren Henry (Greeneville, Tenn.) is ready to show her skills to the home fans.

"This will be the first time that we will be able to compete at our 'home course' that I know of," Henry said. "It will be great to get some school support and race on our own turf."

The Eagles/Lady Eagles had a great meet in the Eye Opener on Sept. 4 in Spartanburg, S.C. The Lady Eagles took 13th place, with seven runners competing individually as well.

"The team this year is very young, but we had a strong showing for our first meet of the season," Henry said Personally, I did not race as well as I hoped to but I am working through a previous injury, which hopefully won't slow me down this Saturday."

Henry took 102nd place last week. Ashely Matthews (Sanford, N.C.) and All-SAC Brooke Earehart (Dickson, Tenn.) were the top finishers for the Lady Eagles, finising 42nd and 52nd respectively.

"We learned a bit about where we stand and what kind of competition we will be up against this year," Henry said. "This Saturday will be about taking that knowledge and applying to race day. We have a lot of talent in our returners, and our new runners are developing quickly."

The Eagle men were impressive as well, with Justin Browning (Madisonville, Tenn.) finishing 125th.

Some of the top teams in collegiate cross county will be competing at the event. The NAIA No. 13-ranked Milligan College women and the NAIA NO. 25-ranked Bryan College men will be there.

South Atlantic Conference rival Tusculum College will compete, led by defending SAC champion Simon Holzapfel.

Lincoln Memorial will field a team led by All-SAC runner Sofia Lopez-Mimendi.

"It's been a couple of weeks since the Eye Opener and our training cycle has been pretty tough these past few days, so I'll be interested to see how we respond Saturday." Lee said. "I think we've some advantage just in knowing our own course; knowing some spots to really make a significant move. If we race according to some strategy we've been working on, then I think we can find ourselves as a top three team this weekend."

Scoring and timing will be provided by Brian Buckner of Slipstream Timing and Meet Management.