The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s and women’s cross country teams will head south to Alabama to participate in the JSU Foothills Invitational hosted by Jacksonville State in Oxford, Ala.
The men’s 8-kilometer race will begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time at the Oxford Lake Complex with the women’s 5K set to start at 10:30 a.m.
This will be the men’s first 8K distance race this season. UTC opened the year at the Belmont Invitational and ran a 5K along with the women.
The Mocs hosed the second race of the season at the PowerAde Invitational. The men ran a 5K while the women covered a two-mile course.
Junior Paul Stuart (Brentwood, Tenn.) led the Mocs in both races and recorded a personal record (PR) time of 15:32.28 at the PowerAde Invitational. Freshmen Mark Britt (Lebanon, Tenn.), Richard Guiry (Nashville, Tenn.) and Jack Strevell (Nolensville, Tenn.) have taken the next three spots for Chattanooga as its builds for its future.
In the women’s race, junior All-American Teghan Henderson (Pickering, Ontario) returned to the course this season after battling injury all of last year. She placed third at both the Belmont Opener and the UTC PowerAde Invitational, leading the Mocs to a fourth place finish in Nashville and first at the Mocs’ event.
Sophomore Emily Drouin (Verona, Ontario) crossed the line second in both races for UTC, recording a career-best time in the 2-mile race at home with a sixth place finish overall. Sophomore Maddison Melchionna (Afton, Tenn.) was third for UTC in both races as well, placing seventh at the PowerAde.
The event will include men’s and women’s teams from Auburn, Birmingham Southern, Emory, Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, Miles, Spring Hill, Troy, Tuskegee and UGA Running Club. Alabama A&M, Georgia Southern and Georgia State will field women’s teams only while Lee University will bring it’s men’s team.
The Mocs were originally slated to run at the USC Upstate Invitational on Saturday, but inclement weather forced head coach Bill Gautier to opt for a new location. Results will be available at GoMocs.com following the race.