The Emory men’s and women’s cross teams continue their seasons on Saturday (Oct. 3) when they compete in the 10^th Annual JSU Foothills Invitational.  The meet will be held at the Oxford Lake and Recreation Center in Oxford, Alabama, with the men’s 8K competition starting at 8:30 am (CDT) followed by the women’s 5K at 9:30 am.   

This year’s Invitational will feature approximately 10 men’s and 12 women’s squads.  A number of Division I programs will be represented in both races including Auburn, Kennesaw State and Troy University.   The Emory men enter this weekend as the No. 1-ranked D-III program in the South/Southeast Region and 34^th nationally, while the women hold down the No. 31 slot in the national rankings as well as the No. 1 position in the region.

Both sides are coming off strong performances in last week’s Charlotte Invitational, where the men’s pack finished runner-up to host Charlotte in an 11-team field while the women recorded a fourth-place finish out of 10 squads, with the three teams ahead of Emory all NCAA D-I members.

Seniors Lukas Mees (Marion, IA) and Elise Viox (St. Louis, MO) were named the UAA Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week following their performances at the Invitational.  Mees finished first out of 107 runners, clocking a personal-best 8K time of 25:25 while Viox led the Eagle women and placed 11^th out of 107 entries with a 6K effort of 22:56.