Cross Country Prepares for Sam Bell Invitational
10/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Oct. 16, 2009
HOUSTON -
The University of Houston cross country team compete in the Sam Bell Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 17 in Bloomington, Ind.
The meet begins with the women's team racing at 10 a.m. and the men will follow at 10:45 a.m. The meet will include teams from Indiana University-Bloomington, Indiana University-Ft. Wayne, Purdue University, Wabash College (men only) and Ball State (women only).
Head coach Ryan Turner believes this meet will be somewhat of a challenge for his regionally ranked team.
"This meet is going to be challenging," Turner said. "There are a lot of variables that we can't control; the weather, the course and the competition. All we can control is how we compete. Our goal is always to run the best that we can regardless of time and try to beat teams that we feel like we can beat."
While the meet poses a challenge for the Cougars, it is much smaller than the previous meet at Notre Dame.
"The meet is much smaller then the Notre Dame meet, which is what I'd prefer looking ahead to the conference championship in two weeks. Anytime you compete against the Big 10 in cross country we better be prepared for some great competition," Turner explained.
One runner that stood out this week in practice is freshman, Kathryn Ducommun.
"The surprise this week has been how well our freshmen have been practicing, especially Kat Ducommun," Turner said. "Kat has really separated herself this week. Will she do it in a meet? That's yet to be determined, but she sure is heading in the right direction."
"Conference is in two weeks and at some point we have to train to get ready for that meet. We've treated this week as a normal practice week, but we definitely know which of the two meets matters most to us," Turner explains, looking ahead to conference.
The University of Houston is set to host the 2009 Conference USA Men¹s and Women's Cross Country Championships on Oct. 31, at the Bear Branch Park in The Woodlands, Texas. Admission is free. For the latest news and results on C-USA Championships, log on to www.ConferenceUSA.com - the official site for C-USA members.
Players Mentioned
