CEDAR CITY, Utah - Even though it seems like the outdoor track and field season just came to a close, the Thunderbird men's and women's cross country teams are ready to hit their first course of the season this Saturday as they'll compete at the Utah Valley University Invitational.

2016 Recap

The Thunderbirds are looking to continue to make noise in the Mountain Region and on the national level as they enter the 2017 campaign.

The men's team made their third consecutive trip to the NCAA National Championships last season, and ended up 27th in the country following the season.

This season the T-Bird men's squad is heading into the year No. 15 with their eyes on moving up the national rankings with the addition of Mike Tate to a squad that brings back their entire competitive lineup.

The women's team also had a strong season, and finished 12th at the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships. This season they will redshirt three of their top athletes from last season, but will have plenty of talent to go into races with throughout the year.   

Meet Preview

The Thunderbirds, led by head coach Eric Houle, will be traveling to Orem to compete against his brother Scott Houle and the Utah Valley University Wolverines.

The Wolverines will be making a return trip to Cedar City to compete in the Color Country Invitational on October 7.

Last season UVU's women's team finished first in the WAC and the men finished second.

Words From Coach Houle

On what he expects to see this weekend…..

"In the last number of years we haven't opened up with our top team this early in the season, but what I have done is taken people that are on the bubble, need the race or are coming back off an injury and give them an opportunity to race," Houle said. "That's pretty much the game plan for both teams."

On continuing the grow the women's program…..

"With us redshirting our top three women, and graduating our number one coming out of the conference championship last year, that puts us in a different position," he said. "It's a building year for us, but that being said we have some very good athletes coming in with Madison Fruchey, and several returning like Ashley Tyndall. With the core that we do have we should have a very competitive team when we put them all together."  

On what he hopes to see out of the men's team…..

"It's the same story, we're not going to run the top guys," he said. "We're going to rest them and train them, this gives people that are on the bubble the opportunity to race up against UVU's best team."

Follow Us

Things will get underway in Orem at 10 a.m.

For all things SUU cross country follow @SUUTFXC on Twitter and Instagram and like the Southern Utah Track and XC page on Facebook.