Oct. 8, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University cross country teams will host the Samford Invitational Saturday in conjunction with the annual Southeast XC Showdown at Hoover's Veterans Park. The meet will be a preview meet for the NCAA South Regional Championships which will be held on Nov. 13.
The purpose for holding a preview meet is to allow teams to come in and run on the course in a competition format before the actual championship meet.
The Samford cross country teams are familiar with Veterans Park. The Bulldogs have competed in several events at the venue in the past four years including the Great American Cross Country Race and the Southeast Showdown. Samford also hosted the Samford Invitational there in 2007 as well as the 2007 Ohio Valley Conference Cross Country Championships.
Two Bulldog women hold course records for the venue. Former Bulldog standout Lauren Blankenship marked the 5K course record at the 2007 OVC Championships with a time of 17:26.34. Current Bulldog senior Hillary Neal posted a 3K course record last season at the Southeast Showdown, earning first place with a time of 10:19.89.
Both Samford teams have been successful so far in the 2010 season. In the first meet of the season, the Bulldogs faced their toughest competition to date in the annual Crimson Classic in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The Samford women took third place out of 18 teams while the men finished ninth out of 18 teams. Two weeks ago, the women placed fifth out of 32 teams at the Brooks Memphis Twilight while the men took 16th out of 30 teams.
Lauren D'Alessio has been the front runner for the women while Scott Cope and newcomer Layton Dorsett have led the men. D'Alessio and Dorsett have both been named Southern Conference Runners of the Week as well.
Usually, teams go into a meet not only wanting to improve as a team but on an individual basis as well. This week, Samford head coach Rod Tiffin wants his team to focus on finishing as a team. Last season, the Samford women won the team title in this meet and the men finished second.
"We really want to run well as a team this weekend," Tiffin said. "We are not worried about individual marks and times this week. We just want to go out and compete and try to win both team competitions."
This weekend, Samford will compete against teams from Alabama A&M, Belmont, Birmingham-Southern, UAB and Kennesaw State.
"This will be the smallest field we have seen this season so it will give us a good preview as far as size of field for the upcoming conference championships. Almost every team this weekend, though, will also be competition next month in the regional meet."
The Samford men will kick things off at 7:30 a.m. with the 8K race followed by the women's 5K race at 8:55. Fans can find more information about the Samford Invitational and the Southeast Showdown at www.hoovertrack.com. Results will be posted at al.milesplit.com and a full recap and results of the Samford Invitational will be posted on www.samfordsports.com following the meet.
