Sept. 3, 2003

Race Times & Results Link

COLUMBIA, Mo -- The University of Missouri cross country teams will kickoff the 2003 campaign this Saturday morning as they are set to host the 11th annual Missouri Cross Country. A.L. Gustin Golf Course, the site of last year's Big 12 Cross Country Championships, will once again play host.

Nine races, starting at 7:15 a.m., are set to be run in varying levels of competition. An open 5k race will start the day and will be followed by races featuring high school freshmen and high school junior varsity teams.

The collegiate events will be run at 10:00 a.m. with the women race first followed by the men. The Missouri women, who finished 16th in the nation last year, will enter this season ranked No. 17 in the country and No. 1 in the Midwest region (FinishLynx coaches poll). The Mizzou men are ranked No. 6 in the Midwest region and will be challenged by Illinois, ranked No. 4 in the region (US Cross Country Coaches Association poll).

Missouri will be joined in competition by Bradley University, the University of Illinois, Southeast Missouri State University, and in the women's race, Southern Illinois University of Carbondale.

Following the collegiate races will be the high school varsity races. The Missouri Cross Country Challenge in the past has proven to be a good barometer of how competition around the state will look in high school cross country due to the toughness of the course and its similarity to the championship site in Jefferson City.

For complete results of all races and a recap of the collegiate races, check out mutigers.com on Saturday afternoon.

The FinishLynx coaches poll can be found weekly at: http://www.raceberryjam.com/ncaaccpolls.html#nc1pollwomen

The US Cross Country Coaches Association poll can be found at: http://www.usccca.org