Oct. 29, 2002

The University of Missouri will host the 2002 Big 12 Cross Country Championships this Saturday at A.L. Gustin Golf Course. The women's team is ranked 11th in the country and is coming off a fifth place finish at the NCAA Pre-National Meet two weeks ago. Missouri cross country head coach Jared Wilmes is excited for his teams to be racing on their home course; "It's an exciting opportunity for us. We're on our home course, the course we train on and we will be in front of our fans and we get to race against one of the best conferences in the country." The women's team has run well all year grabbing three first place finishes and having two runners, Amanda Bales and Valerie Lauver, named Big 12 Runners of the Week. Wilmes added, "The women are one of the top teams in the conference and we're just excited to run against some of the best teams in the country."

On the men's side coach Wilmes is hoping the team improves, "We a really young team and we just want to gain experience in this race. The important thing is that we are growing and we are getting better every week." The Big 12 Cross Country Championships start at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning with the women's 6K race to be followed by the men's 8K at 11:00 a.m.