Cross Country Teams Set for Big South Conference Championship on Saturday

ASHEVILLE, N.C. ? The UNC Asheville men's and women's cross country teams will compete for a conference championship this Saturday morning at the 2007 Big South Conference championships to be held at Jackson Park in Hendersonville.

The Bulldogs are the host school for the event and first-year coach Jesse Norman hopes that plenty of UNC Asheville fans will come out and support the teams. There is no admission fee. The women's race starts at 9 a.m., while the men's race will start at approximately 9:45 a.m.

“It's nice for our student-athletes to run close to home,” commented Norman. “We're looking forward to seeing a lot of our fans out there on Saturday. We are very excited about hosting the Big South Conference championship.”

The women's team has been getting better and better each week and seniors' Emily Mase and Ingrid Allstaedt should compete for all-conference honors on Saturday. Mase won the Gardner-Webb Invitational earlier this month and finished second at the Big South Preview Meet at Jackson Park in September. Allstaedt, who hails from nearby Brevard, finished second at the Gardner-Webb Invitational.

“Our women's team has worked hard this year,” stated Norman. “We're looking forward to this meet and see where we finish.”

The men's team has been hampered with injuries this year but has improved with each meet. Junior Andrew Burnette has had a solid season for the Bulldogs and was named as Big South Runner of the Week earlier this month after a third-place finish at the Gardner-Webb Invitational.

“The men's team has given great effort all year,” declared Norman. “We've had some injuries but our guys have worked very hard and done the best they could do.”