CEDAR CITY, Utah - Sept. 10 - Thunderbird Cross Country is gearing up for another weekend on the road as the squads prepare to split between the UVU Invitational and UC Riverside Invitational. Southern Utah's top runners will travel to Riverside, Calif., for the UCR meet set to take place Saturday at 7:30 a.m. (PT), while a second squad heads north to Orem, Utah, for an in-state competition against Utah Valley on Friday at 11 a.m. (MT).
“Our top people are going to Riverside because we've been competing there for the past several years and the course is always the same,” head coach Eric Houle said. “It gives me a good indication of where the athletes are and how we should stack up for the rest of the season.“
Freshmen Sean Newcomb, Mike Tate and Sierra Malm will be among those top runners competing at UC Riverside, as well as transfer student-athlete Dylan Marx. Returning T-Birds Jon Lee, Hayden Hawks, Ryan Barrus, Shelli Mogensen, Dayna VanArsdol, Josie Brandow and Jasmyn Hildebrandt will also enter the 2013 season representing Southern Utah in California.
Most of the Thunderbirds who competed at the season-opening Idaho State Invitational will return to compete against in-state rival Utah Valley. Anthony Brown and Aubrey Bryson will lead the squad after recording first-place individual finishes at ISU, joined by Josh Gardner, Ibrahim Ahmed, Morgan Vorwaller and Lakyn Miller, among others.
“Those who are trying to earn a slot to compete at conference and those who are trying to get stronger will go to UVU to run,” Houle continued. “Our goals are to give everyone who is ready an opportunity to race and to help out UVU by giving them some competition, while also looking at our goals and where the program will go this season.”
Following the UC Riverside and Utah Valley meets, the T-Birds will prepare to host the annual Color Country Invitational, set to take place on Oct. 4 at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course. Southern Utah will also be represented at the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4, as a small group of Thunderbirds travel to South Bend, Ind., to compete.
