Oct. 17, 2003

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The Samford men's and women's cross country teams will compete in the Chili Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday, October 18at 9:30 a.m. Both teams will feature the current Ohio Valley Conference Athlete of the Week in the race, Lauren Blankenship for the women and Chad Johnson for the men. The men will run a 10K race while the women will run 6K.

"This is going to be the longest race of the season so far," Head Coach Glenn McWaters said. "We had a good week of practice and should be ready to go and have a good race. Our main goal is to get better every week leading up to the OVC Championship."

The OVC Championship is in two weeks and this is the final race for Samford to perfect everything before that race.

Blankenship, a freshman from Alpharetta, Ga. was named OVC Female Athlete of the Week for the second-consecutive week and third time this season after finishing 17th at the Auburn Invitational last weekend. Sophomore Michelle Brewer finished 47th and her sister Jessica Brewer finished 53rd.

With Johnson leading the way at the Auburn Invitational the Bulldogs finished 15th behind the senior's 16th place performance. Ricky McLain also had a strong race finishing 27th. Samford is still looking for some consistency from the four and five runners.