Charlotte Invitational Next for Cross Country
9/29/2010 8:17:00 PM | Track & Field/XC
STATESBORO, Ga. - Midway through its season, members of the Georgia Southern Cross Country team are pushing themselves to drop their times as they begin preparation for the Southern Conference Championship in late October. The Eagles travel to the Charlotte Invitational for a 4 p.m. race Friday, October 1st, and will compete against more than 25 other teams from the Southeast. UNC Charlotte plays host to the event at McAlpine Park where seven members of the team will compete in the 5,000 K event.
"I am looking forward to our meet at UNC Charlotte this Friday," said Head Cross Country Coach Natalie Smith. "I believe that the ladies are taking the challenge that I have given them to make this meet a "spark" point for our season -- the spark that leads us into reaching our team goals as well as their goals individually. The ladies are excited and ready to go and I believe we are going to have some great performances."
At the 2009 Charlotte Invitational, Azura Robillard (Apopka, Fla.), Kassi Lee (Elberton, Ga.), Heather McAllister (Cartersville, Ga.), Brittani Martin (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Sara Curry (Lawrenceville, Ga.) all posted their personal best times. Lee posted the best time for Georgia Southern at last year's meet with a 19:57.40 and Robillard was right behind her with at 19:58.50.
Coach Smith is looking for great effort from the whole team, but commented that Curry, Lee and McAllister are on the road to running their best times in their careers. Curry has already reset her personal best, posting a 19:25.31 at the 2010 season-opening Gamecock Invitational and had her second-best time at the Clemson Invitational in the second meet of the season.
"Our goal this week is to see anywhere from a 15- to 20-second drop in our times," Smith said. "Also, we would like to see all of our top five times within one minute of our number-one finisher. As we prepare for conference, this is the progression we need in order for us to see huge performance gains over the next couple of weeks. If everything pans out, we will be very happy coming home Friday night."
Results from Friday's Charlotte Invitational will be posted on GeorgiaSouthernEagles.com/crosscountry and will be available at twitter.com/gsscores and facebook.com/gsathletics.
