Sept. 11, 2008

Memphis, Tenn. - The University of Memphis men's and women's cross country teams will race on Saturday night Sept. 13 at the Brooks Memphis Twilight Classic hosted by Christian Brothers University. The order of events taking place at Mike Rose Soccer Complex begins with the women's race starting at 8:40 p.m. and the men will follow at 9:20 p.m.

The women's collegiate field consists of 304 runners representing 36 different universities. A pair of women's C-USA teams, UAB and Southern Miss, is a part of the Twilight Classic field as well. The men's collegiate field runs 287 athletes from 32 universities.

Memphis distance coach Toby Reep is looking for the Memphis runners to turn in a stronger performance than in their first meet.

"This week we expect to be considerably better than we were at the Arkansas Tech meet," Reep said. "The kids have been working really hard for the last two and a half weeks. Since the beginning of the year we've made leaps and bounds of improvement. We're a lot better than we were then. We're probably still going to be a little fatigued right now from all the hard work we've been putting in, but we expect a much better performance on both the men and women's side."

Reep believes having the meet in Memphis should give the Tigers an advantage over the competition.

"All the members of our track team are going to come out and support the cross country runners. That's a huge deal for them to know that your teammates are behind you and yelling because 5000 and 8000 meters is a lot of time in your mind by yourself. It definitely helps to have people behind you and supporting you as a runner."

Running the course at Mike Rose Soccer Complex early in the season should give the Tigers a leg up when it comes time for the C-USA Championships hosted by the University of Memphis on Nov. 1 on the same course at Mike Rose.

"There is a huge advantage for us to run on this course," Reep said. "The majority of the athletes especially the upperclassmen know the course, but for us to get on it this year will give our new kids an opportunity to know our home course. It will definitely serve us well when it comes to the conference championship. I hope we also have a hometown crowd in a sea of blue when it comes time for the conference meet."

The Memphis cross country teams are in action again Saturday, Sept. 20 in Nashville, Tenn. for the Commodore Classic hosted by Vanderbilt University.