Sept. 13, 2007
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – After a two week hiatus, the Vanderbilt women’s and men’s cross country teams return to action this Saturday morning at Percy Warner Park to race in the Commodore Classic.
The Vanderbilt women’s team is currently ranked fifth in the South Region, and the men’s team is ranked thirteenth in the South Region.
In the last meet, the Belmont/Vanderbilt Opener, the women’s team looked impressive, placing four finishers in the top eleven while sprinting to a second-place finish. Rita Jorgensen led all Vanderbilt runners and placed fourth overall. The men’s team continued the trend and finishing third. Austin Williamson finished seventh overall.
“The Commodore Classic will be more competitive than any year since I joined the team,” said Williamson. “I’m excited to see how we match up against Missouri and our regional rival Georgia Tech. It’s just a great opportunity to get out there and show what we’re made of.”
The men will kick off the morning with an 8k race beginning at 9 a.m. Belmont, ranked fourth in the South Region, Missouri, ranked sixth in the Midwest Region, and Georgia Tech, ranked twelfth in the South Region, headline a race that features fifteen participating universities and colleges.
The women’s race follows at 10 am and will feature opposition from top programs like Georgia Tech (#6 in the South Region), Missouri (#8 in the Midwest Region), Belmont (#9 in the South Region), and Central Florida (#15 in the South Region). In all, seventeen different universities and colleges from around the region will run in the 5k race.
After this weekend’s meet, the Commodores are off until September 29 when the men’s team will travel to Louisville for the Louisville Invitational and the women’s team will split squads and run in both Louisville, at the Louisville Invitational, and Williamsburg, Va., at William & Mary.