Cross Country Set to Compete in Nashville Saturday

Saturday, September 15

Nashville, TN / Percy Warner Park (Vaughn’s Gap CC Course)

Men's - 9am Women's - 10am

Middle Tennessee

Commodore Classic

9/14/2018 11:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country and Track & Field, Women's Cross Country and Track & Field, Track & Field/Cross Country

The Middle Tennessee Cross Country teams will get the chance to race close to home on Saturday at the Commodore Classic in Nashville. Both teams appeared in recent polls after their performances in Memphis. In the most recent USTFCCCA polls, the MT Men rank 2^nd in the South Region and 19^th nationally while the Women rank 13^th in the region. This weekend, the Women will remain at the 5K distance while the Men make the jump to 8K.

Race Details
Commodore Classic (Hosted by Vanderbilt University)
Percy Warner Park, Nashville, TN
September 15, 2018

Men's start (8K): 9 a.m.
Women's start (5K): 10 a.m.

Course Preview
The race takes place at Percy Warner Park, specifically at the Vaughn's Gap Cross Country Course located at the corner of Tennessee Highways 100 and 254 (Old Hickory Road) near Camp Warner Park. This course is all grass and doesn't feature any steep inclines. The route is spectator friendly, starting and finishing in the middle of a loop. The women's 5K will have one perimeter loop while the men's 8K includes two loops.

Historically Speaking
The Blue Raider men captured the Commodore Classic title last season with 64 points. Jacob Choge and Kigen Chemadi finished back-to-back in second and third with times of 24:44.8 and 24:50.2.
On the women's side, the Blue Raiders finished 9^th in a loaded, 17 team field. Rachel Kigen and Julia Jelagat each finished in the top 50.

The Opposition
Belmont – The Bruins dominated their own race at Percy Warner Park two weeks ago with both teams leading the field. The Men finished 1-2-3-4-7 and the women went 1-4-6-10-11. The five men all finished under 16 minutes while five women all finished faster than 19:30.

Vanderbilt – This weekend's hosts finished second in both races at the Belmont Opener, but also raced last weekend in Auburn, Alabama. The Women finished third and one point shy of second in a SEC-heavy field. The Commodore women are up to 7^th in the South Region poll this week and will be one of the top teams in this weekend's race.

Lipscomb – At the Belmont Opener, the Bison men finished third with the women placing fourth. They traveled to New York last weekend, won both races and had both individual champions in an impressive performance. The Bison women enter the week ranked one spot ahead of the Blue Raiders in the polls.

Conference USA – Three women's teams and one men's team from Conference USA will be racing with the Blue Raiders, providing a look into which teams will contend for a conference title. Western Kentucky will bring both of their teams to Nashville for the second meet in Music City and their third meet in the Volunteer State. The Hilltoppers raced in the Belmont opener two weeks ago as well as last week's Golden Eagle Invite in Cookeville. UAB's women raced with the Blue Raiders at the Memphis Twilight Classic and finished 6^th. Finally, Southern Miss' women are ranked 10^th in the South Region after they topped the 22 team field at the Mississippi College Opener.

Last Time Out
Though they were running without many of their top runners, the Men's team was led by freshman Caden Hercules and finished 11th out of 19 teams at the Brooks Twilight XC Classic. Meanwhile the women's squad, led by freshman Pamela Kosgei, placed third in the 21 team field. The freshman Kosgei shined in her collegiate cross country debut as she was the first freshman to cross the line and was third overall.
Read the full recap of the Brooks Twilight XC Classic Here

The Outlook
"Both teams will be running against a solid field of teams this weekend," said Head Coach Keith Vroman. "With several top teams from the South Region in this race with us, it should help us see how we look against region teams like Belmont, Lipscomb, and Vanderbilt. Additionally, we'll get to see how we stack up against Conference-USA opponents like Southern Miss, UAB, and WKU."

Social Media
Keep up with the Blue Raiders in Nashville by following @MT_TrackField on Twitter and Instagram and like Blue Raider Cross Country/Track & Field on Facebook.