CLARKSVILLE - Following its strong performance last week,
the Austin Peay State University men's cross country team will face another
stern test when it competes at the five-kilometer PowerAde Invitational hosted
by Chattanooga, Friday night, at Moccasin Bend Race Course.
The Govs are fresh off an impressive fifth-place finish at
the Belmont-Vanderbilt Cross Country Opener, last Friday. Junior Enock Langat
was named the Ohio Valley Conference's "Male Runner of the Week" after
finishing 14th in the five-kilometer race with a time of 16:08.37. However, the
rest of the Govs ran just as well with the team finishing in two tightly bunched
packs.
The PowerAde Invitational will boast six teams ranked
regionally by the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches
Association. Foremost among those ranked teams will be South Region No. 1
Alabama, which finished third in the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championship. Also
competing will be South Region No. 8 Kennesaw State, host and South Region No.
11 Chattanooga and South Region No. 15 Lipscomb. The Govs also will see Middle Tennessee
which won the Belmont-Vanderbilt Opener. In addition, Division II members Alabama-Huntsville
(No. 3) and West Georgia (No. 5) are ranked in their division's South Region.
"The men's race should be very
fast with Alabama leading the way," said APSU cross country coach Doug Molnar. "Chattanooga
is always solid and Lipscomb and Middle Tennessee are in great early season
shape so I'm looking for some very fast times out of the men.
"I was pleased with how our men
ran last week. We ran together and made a move late in the race. They executed
the race plan to perfection. The guys felt like they were just getting into the
groove when the race was over. We've had a solid couple of practices the last
few days and we'll see what we can do this week. We've not backed down on our
training at all for these early season races and we won't for a few more weeks."
Complete race results will be available at Chattanooga's
athletics website - www.GoMocs.com.
- AP -