JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—Greene Farm will play host to the Maryville Duel Meet this weekend as Carson-Newman cross country welcomes three programs to Hamblen County on Saturday for a five-kilometer run.
Carson-Newman, who competed in the Furman Invitational last week, is looking forward to returning home and competing on familiar scenery. The Eagles are no stranger to Greene Farm, as they round out their preseason training every summer with the Blue/Orange Meet at the plantation.
"We are obviously going to know the course better," coach Tony Parrilla said of the running course. "We're going to know when to press and when to hold our cadence. I think we are going to have a little bit of home cooking as they say."
The dual meet was originally slated for Carson-Newman and Maryville College, but has since been expended by inviting Johnson University and Tusculum College to the event. The event will be a nice change of pace for the Eagles, who have seen Division I competition the past two weeks.
"I'm a very single focused coach," Parrilla said. "Whether we are going to be facing Georgia, or we are going to be facing Maryville, all I really do is focus on what we are doing. We are going to be pack running because it's going to be a shorter race. I'm pretty excited about what we are going to do."
The women will kick off the day, starting their race at 10 a.m. The men will follow shortly after at 10:30.
The Carson-Newman coach looks for his team to continue to improve in the regular season meets leading up to the South Atlantic Conference Meet in late October.
"Our team is just getting better and our recruiting is getting better," Parrilla added. "I think the meets we are attending are more dialed into our end game or conference and what we are trying to achieve there."
For official statistics and a recap story following Saturday's Maryville Dual Meet, log onto cneagles.com.
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