JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.— In coming off a bye weekend, the Carson-Newman cross country team is set to take part in America's second largest cross country meet, The 14th Annual Greater Louisville Classic, this Saturday in Louisville, K.Y at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park.
"Everybody that runs cross country on this side of the Mississippi looks forward to this meet," coach Parrilla said. "There is going to be a lot of schools from all over the place, but all we are going to do is focus on what we are going to do to get better for conference."
The classic will feature 118 Universities and Colleges from all across the United States and in Canada, headlined by Division I powerhouses No. 4 Wisconsin and No. 6 Iowa State. Of the 30 women's and 28 men's nationally ranked teams, a combined 2,700 runners will compete in the meet.
The Greater Louisville Classic will most likely be the second largest cross country meet in the United States this year and will also be featuring eight former Division I National Championship teams.
"I think our team really handled themselves well at Furman [Invitational]," Parrilla said. "They were not intimidated by all those Division I teams and I think this team will be a lot more prepared for that."
The running course features some of the nation's fastest times, as the men will be competing in eight-kilometer and the women will run the six-kilometer. Parrilla will continue to look for his team to improve as they reach ever so closer to the South Atlantic Conference Championships that will be taking place in three weeks.
"What we are looking for it is to get a little bit of closure on what we did in the summer and what we did in those slower harder courses," coach Parrilla said. "This is the beginning of getting out there and hitting hard competition."
The collegiate runs will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. Log onto cneagles.com for a complete recap following the meet.
-CN-
