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Commodores Host Invitational Saturday 9/15/2005 Vanderbilt’s Cross Country teams will host the Commodore Classic 5k this Saturday at Percy Warner Park in Nashville. The event involves primarily local schools and is intended to allow teams to gauge strengths and weaknesses before conference meets begin. “Competition is great for where we want to be at this point in the season,” Women’s Cross Country Head Coach Jim Spivey said. “It will challenge the middle group of our team and hopefully get them to step up.” Ashleigh Wetzel (18:29), who led the Commodores at the 2004 Classic, will be returning to the course along with Erica Schneble who was redshirted last season. Schneble recently helped lead Vandy in the Belmont XC Opener to the overall win with a fourth place finish September 2. Last year’s third place winner for the Commodores, Brittany Sizer, will not be participating Saturday due to shin complications, but all other non-redshirted racers are scheduled to run. “We have 22 running, a lot more healthy bodies than last year,” Spivey said. “Morale is much higher this year because we don’t have so many injured.” Spivey’s squad will be competing for their fourth consecutive win at the event. Belmont, the former runner-up team, will not be participating this year, opening the competition up to other schools like Emory University in Atlanta. “Emory is only a Division III school,” Spivey said. “But they are tough group.” Other local competitors include Lipscomb, who took third place overall last season, Tennessee Tech, and Union University. The women’s race time is set for 8:30 a.m., followed by the men’s race at 9:10. |
