JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. – The Carson-Newman cross country program heads to Knoxville, Tenn. to participate in the Victor Ashe Meet at Victor Ashe Park for the program's first competitive meet of the season.

This will be coach Tony Parrila's first opportunity to see his team compared to others.

"I just want to see where we are fitness-wise. For me, the season really begins at the conference meet. So I just really want to see where we are at and what we need to fine tune for conference," Parrilla said.

Two weeks ago, the Eagles competed in a four-kilometer intrasquad meet at Greene Farm. At that meet, freshman Lachlan Dickie set the fastest mark for the men and sophomore Nick Guerra (Richardson, Texas) was second.

Dickie has brought a spark to the Eagles and has created some new competition for his teammates.

"Right now, he's brought the desire for everyone to step up. With the other additions and as well as the people we had last year, everyone just wants to hit that next level,
Parrilla said of the freshman. "They are chasing Lach in workouts and at times, there are even stepping up to be ahead of him. He has really brought that sense of where we are going."

Freshman Tori Gaul ran the fastest woman's time with sophomore Sara Honaker (Mason, Ohio) came in right behind her.

The women's team features just two upperclassmen and six underclassmen. Yet, Parrilla expects his young team to learn how to run on the collegiate level quickly.

"The women's team is very young. The previous coach before me, once he left, there was about seven girls gone due to graduation, so pretty much left me with a very, very young class coming in that did come in as well as the girls that came in this past year," Parrilla said. "It's a very young team, but I think it is going to grow and it a very quick learning curve."

The Eagles start the Victor Ashe Meet at 10 a.m. Satuday morning in Knoxville, Tenn.