COLUMBIA, Mo. - Coach Marc Burns, currently entering his second year at the helm of the Tigers' cross country team, released the 2015 schedule on Monday (August 24), which is set to kick off on Friday, September 4, with the Illini Challenge (Champaign, Ill.).

"This year's schedule gives us quite a bit of time to train through some weekends early on to prepare for the portion of the schedule that counts toward NCAA rankings," Burns said. "We've had some great training already, especially during team camp last week, and everything we do from now until that first meet at Texas A&M will prepare us well for SEC and NCAA Championships."

The start of the 2015 campaign mirrors that from 2014, with the teams staying fairly close to home with the September 4th Illini Challenge (Champaign, Ill.) and the September 11th Forest Park XC Festival (St. Louis, Mo.).  

"The Illini Challenge is a good opening meet.  There will be four or five teams there and it will be a good chance to get our feet wet and run a mix of people.  Then, those who we think will be in our top seven will run at Forest Park the following week," Burns said. "Those meets will give everyone who's trying to break into that top group two good opportunities to get out of the gate.  I feel like last year we needed one more meet for those athletes, so we're trying to give them more opportunities this year to develop and make that ten-person roster for SEC's."

September will close with the first big travel weekend of the season, with the top ten men and women traveling down to College Station, Tx., to preview Texas A&M's new Watts Cross Country Course before the SEC Championships.  That weekend will also count as the first scoring weekend for the NCAA, with results counting toward team rankings and possible bids into the NCAA Championship meet in November.

"The Texas A&M Invitational is a good opportunity for our top group," Burns said. "It's a pretty new course, and they're hosting both the SEC Championships and the South Central Regional meet, so it will be a good chance to race against some other SEC teams, as well as some teams that are outside of our region, which will be great."

The Tigers will then have a quick turnaround, traveling to South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Invitational on October 2, historically one of the biggest meets during the cross country season.

Both teams will train through the following weekend before hitting the road for the final time during the regular season, this time splitting forces between the October 16th Bradley 'Pink' Classic (Peoria, Ill.) and the October 17th Pre-National Meet (Louisville, Ky.).  The Pre-National Meet will serve as a NCAA Championships' course preview for the top seven men and women.

"Louisville is a course we knew, and we know well," Burns said. "It's fast, it's flat, and there are certainly parts of that course where having that experience is a huge advantage."

The championship season will kick off on October 30 back down in College Station, Tx., with the SEC Championships, followed by the NCAA Midwest Regional (November 13) at historic Rim Rock Farms in Lawrence, Kan., where the teams will look to qualify on to the NCAA Championships (November 21).  

For the latest on Mizzou Cross Country, stay tuned to MUTigers.com and follow the team on Twitter @MIZ_TrackField.

2015 MIZZOU CROSS COUNTRY SCHEDULE