APSU Men’s Cross Country
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.
