JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn.—A week after competing in the nation's second largest meet of the year, the Carson-Newman cross country team will be heading back up to Kentucky for the Fast Cats Classic this Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
"We are going to go over there and just take care of our business," coach Tony Parrilla said. "At Louisville, both our men's and women's teams had great spreads from one to six. If we can just do that, I feel like we have a chance to win it or place top-three."
The meet will welcome a number of schools from all across the NCAA divisions, as well as a number of smaller NAIA institutions. Carson-Newman will be competing in the Small Colleges of Kentucky Race, which fields many schools from the Division II level and below.
The men will be competing in the eight-kilometer run, while the women will perform the five-kilometer trek. Both groups will be running on one of the fastest courses on the east side of the Mississippi River.
The Carson-Newman head man is looking forward to seeing some the best personal times from his players.
"This is a fast course," Parrilla said. "We are going to be introducing a lot of speed. We have had some great workouts this week and everything we are going to do is to try and run fast and be tough."
Lachlan Dickie (Knoxville, Tenn.) will again pace the Eagles' men. For the second time this season, Dickie wrapped up a South Atlantic Conference Runner of the Week award after his strong showing in the Louisville Classis a week ago.
"Lachlan has finally gotten a little bit more of a balance," Parrilla said. "He's getting to where he should be now and I'm really excited to see it. He had a good race at Louisville, but we both know it can be a lot better."
This will be the final tune up for the Eagles before the long awaited SAC Conference Meet begins in two weeks on October 24th. Carson-Newman will be looking to sharpen its tools and tighten up the loose ends in the regular season finale race on Saturday.
Log onto cneagles.com for a complete recap and times sheet following the contest on Saturday. Also, don't forget to follow @CNAthletics on Twitter for reports on all Carson-Newman sports news.
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