The Emory men's and women's cross country teams are prepared to divide and conquer this Saturday, Oct. 5th as each team is sending a faction of runners to both the Louisville Sports Commission Cross Country Classic in Louisville, Kentucky and the JSU Foothills Invitational in Oxford, Alabama.
As one of the largest collegiate meets in the country each year, the Louisville Classic is slated to host 133 men's teams to participate in the men's 8K race, while 135 women's teams will take to the trail at E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park for the 5K race. According to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association poll that was released earlier this week, some of the best teams in Division III will be present, with eight teams inside the top-25 in attendance, including top-ranked North Central College (Ill.).
The event will be split into three tiers - Gold, Blue and Silver - which are meant to organize teams into heats based on the program's collegiate division and competition level, and each tier will have a men's and a women's race. Head Coach Linh Nguyen's teams are scheduled to run in the Blue Men's race at 10:45 a.m. and the Blue Women's race at 11:30 a.m.
Roughly 400 miles south and a time zone over, a separate group of Eagles will be participating in the JSU Foothills Invitational in Oxford, Alabama. Starting at 8:00 a.m. (CDT), 37 men's teams are expected to race in the 8K, while 36 squads will be toeing the line for the women's 5K at 9:00 a.m. (CDT). The Eagles last ran on Saturday, Sep. 21st at the Rhodes College Invitational in Memphis, where the 18th-ranked men finished fourth out of 21 teams and the 34th-ranked women's team took sixth out of 21 teams.
Live results from Louisville can be found by clicking here, and finishing times will be continuously updated for the Foothills Invitational here.