Cross Country To Open 2017 Season Saturday

Saturday, September 2

Memphis, Tenn.

9 pm

University of Memphis

Brooks Twilight Classic (M: 4 miles/W: 5k)

Arnica Zitting, 2017 Women's Cross Country

Photo by: Steve Austell

Sep 01, 2017 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Brooks Twilight Classic begins at 9:40 p.m. (CT).

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Saturday's Brooks Twilight Classic is the annual season-opening race for the University of Memphis men's and women's cross country squads, and the 2017 season offers somewhat of a role reversal for the two teams.

The Brooks Twilight Classic, held at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex in Collierville, is set for a nighttime start. The women's race kicks off the action at 9:40 p.m. (CT), with the men's race to follow at approximately 10:20 p.m. (CT).

The Tigers men's team returns six of its top seven performers from 2016, including Julian Sanchez-Pinto, Matthew Viveiros and James Durkin. All three placed in the top-30 at last year's American Athletic Conference Championships, with Sanchez-Pinto finishing just outside the top-15 for all-league honors.

On the women's side, the Tigers return some experience, but have to fill the holes left with the departures of 2016 All-American Athletic Conference honorees Chelsea Ladd and Martina Rodriguez Sala. The trio of Megan Briley, Bailey Kennemer and Arnica Zitting all were a part of the history-setting 2016 season, but are expected to take on different roles in 2017.

Brooks Twilight Classic
Men's Teams (17): Allen County Community College, Arkansas State, Chattanooga, Christian Brothers, Cumberland, Freed-Hardeman, Harding, Kentucky Wesleyan, Little Rock, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi College, Ole Miss, Rust College, Southern Arkansas, Union, William Carey

Women's Teams (18): Allen County Community College, Arkansas State, Chattanooga, Christian Brothers, Cumberland, Freed-Hardeman, Harding, Kentucky Wesleyan, Little Rock, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi College, Ole Miss, Rust College, Southern Arkansas, UAB, Union, William Carey

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments on Saturday
"We are treating Saturday's race as a training run. We're training and practicing through the meet. We're not fit enough to race at a high level yet. What we're looking for is how both teams – especially the younger runners – compose themselves and compete at this level. We'll use Saturday as a benchmark to see the fitness level both teams came back in, and what we need to address in our training as we build towards the conference and regional races at season's end.

"It's difficult to predict what will happen this season – or this weekend – since we've only had the student-athletes back for only a week (University of Memphis began school Aug. 28). We're excited to be back training and preparing for another season."

2017 Schedule

Date	Race	Location	Time (CT)
Sept. 2	Brooks Twilight Classic	Memphis, Tenn.	9 p.m.
Sept. 16	Rhodes College Invitational	Memphis, Tenn.	8:30 a.m.
Sept. 23	Austin Peay Invitational	Clarksville, Tenn.	9 a.m.
Sept. 30	Greater Louisville Classic	Louisville, Ky.	9 a.m.
Oct. 13	Crimson Classic	Tuscaloosa, Ala.	9 a.m.
Oct. 28	American Athletic Conf. Championships	Philadelphia, Pa.	8 a.m.
Nov. 10	NCAA South Regional Championships	Tuscaloosa, Ala.	9 a.m.

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments on the 2017 schedule
"Our schedule is by design. We need a little more competition early in the season to sharpen up the runners. Then, as we head to the conference and regional races, we'll pull back a little on the schedule to help with recovery. Early on, we're trying to race more and determine who we are, and we'll learn that through competition. That is the mindset behind having a heavy early schedule: to compete and measure our teams in order to prepare us for later in the season."

2017 Season Outlook

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments on the women's squad
"The women's team is looking to reestablish itself after losing Martina (Rodriguez Sala) and Chelsea (Ladd) from last season's squad. It will be a much different team that it was a year ago. We brought in some new faces, and we're optimistic they'll have an impact. However, we need more than a week of training to see what they can do for us.

"The women's squad is coming off the best season in program history. Although this year's team is different, we're looking to build on the success we enjoyed in 2016. We're looking for other runners to step up and perform.

"For our women's team, one of the things this season is that while Martina is not competing, she's not gone (Rodriguez Sala still has eligibility remaining for outdoor track and field). Her presence alone will help push the young runners in the program. The returnees are prepared and excited to step up. We have a lot of talent on the squad, but what we lack is a frontrunner. Without a dominant top presence, it makes things different. You're trying to group points as close as possible rather than relying on your top one or two runners.

"It's a challenge, and we coaches face this on a yearly basis. When you lose great student-athletes, you just need others to step up and take over the next year. Sometimes you don't know who those will be until late in the season."

Head coach Kevin Robinson comments on the men's squad
"On the men's side, we didn't lose much from last year. It's a strong, but small (in numbers) group of runners. I expect them to perform well, but the key to their season is to stay healthy.

"The dynamic on the men's squad is different than it has been the last few seasons, and it is because we have more veterans in the mix. We're looking for those runners to provide leadership and push the pace, push the tempo and create a sense of urgency because they had been there before and know what it takes. That's a benefit we haven't had with our men's program the last few years. The men's team is a quality group that is going to work well together. What we've seen so far is a united group."

Up Next
The Tigers take a week off from competition and return to the course Sept. 16 at the Rhodes College Invitational.