BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University cross country team travels to compete in the Southern Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 31, in Greenville, S.C. at the Furman Golf Course.

The Samford men enter the championships with a full head of steam after progressively improving over the past couple of meets leading up to tomorrow's race.

"We've primed really well to run fast this weekend on the men's side and we've had several really good workouts this week." Head Coach Kevin Ondrasek said. "I'd say the mentality is really strong as far as just being ready to go. So we're going to see what we have this weekend and it should be really fun."

With nearly any team adversity can strike at any moment and for the Samford women that adversity has been a constant for a majority of the season but Ondrasek believes that the team has thrived because of it and is in good position for tomorrow's race because of it.

"On the women's side we are starting to gain some traction which is nice and we have some people like Katelyn Brock that are stringing together some good races."  Ondrasek said. "Strangely enough we've had a lot of adversity with the seniors this year and they've handled it with poise which has been refreshing to see that because it sets an example for classes to come."

Sophomore Arsène Guillorel has been an anchor for the program this season as he has been consistently improving from race to race and the trend should continue going into tomorrow's championships.

"We've been monitoring his fitness and his gains over the past couple of weeks and every time we test out he tends to be making pretty even jumps." Ondrasek stated. "I don't think we'll see the best of him until probably regionals honestly. He had a pretty late start because he raced deep into the summer trying to make the French team so he was six to seven weeks behind the rest of team from a training aspect."

For the women it has been a pair of sophomores that has led the charge for the Bulldogs this season and each are looking to make strides moving forward.

"Obviously Karisa (Nelson) had a great breakout race at the Crimson Classic but the one to look out for would be Emma (Garner), she was feeling a little under the weather and nobody knew that last weekend. She's way better than the way she raced at the Crimson Classic." Ondrasek said.

The men are set to start their 8k race at 10 a.m. while the women's race will take place at 10:45 a.m.