Oct. 12, 2007
WACO, Texas - The Baylor men's and women's cross country teams will be split again this weekend as the women's team travels to Terre Haute, Ind. to participate in 2007 Indiana State Pre-Nationals, while the men's team will race at the 19th-annual Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark.
The women's team will run its top seven at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, the site of the 2007 NCAA Championships. The Lady Bears, receiving votes in this week's national poll and ranked second in the South Central Region, will be led by Nichole Jones (Spring, Texas). Jones has been Baylor's top runner in each meet this season, winning the Baylor Twilight Invitational and the BYU Autumn Classic in the first two races of the season.
"I think that our girls are ready to go this weekend," said head coach Todd Harbour. "We have our legs back and are excited about the opportunity. This will be a great field and will give our girls a chance to run on the same course as the NCAA Championships."
Lauren Hagans (Little Rock, Ark.), Erin Bedell (Plano, Texas), Lyndsy Bedell (Plano, Texas), Danielle Bradley (West Palm Beach, Fla.), Jessi Barnes (Bentonville, Ark.) and Kristen McGlynn (Bailey, Colo.) will also run at Indiana State this weekend.
The men's team, along with select individuals from the women's team, will compete at the Chile Pepper Festival, one of the elite cross country races in the nation. The Agri Park course will provide the Bears with their first 10K course of the season.
The Bears will be led by junior Jacob Jones (Willis, Texas) and freshman Robbie Knorr (Livermore, Calif.).
"Our guys have had two good weeks of training," said Harbour. "They are getting healthy and hope to have a good showing this weekend. This is a fast course and it will be good for some of our guys to get a 10K race under their belts."
Several other Big 12 schools will also be competing at the Chile Pepper Festival, giving the Bears a preview of their competition at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock on Oct. 26.
Both teams will have two weeks off before traveling to Lubbock, Texas for the 2007 Big 12 Cross Country Championships.
