Marshall University Athletics
Herd Cross Country Announces 2018 Schedule
7/5/2018 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.-Marshall cross country head coach Jeff Small announced the Thundering Herd's 2018 schedule on Thursday.
Marshall will compete in six meets spanning four states, with a new look to the 2018 schedule. Three of the four regular season meets differ from last season's slate.
"I'm extremely excited about this schedule as it gives us great opportunities to compete amongst the best," assistant coach Caleb Bowen said. "This year we are going to some new places and race new teams which will be great for our men and women."
The Herd opens the season on Saturday, September 1 at the Queen City Invitational. The meet is hosted by Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, Kentucky. The Herd last competed at the meet on September 16, 2006 when it was hosted by the University of Cincinnati.
In 2006, Marian Brooks finished second for the women and Jon Nelson finished fifth for the men. Brooks would earn All-Conference USA honors later that season.
Two weeks later the team heads south to Rock Hill, South Carolina for the Winthrop Invitational. Winthrop University hosts the meet on Saturday, September 15. It will be the first time Marshall competes in South Carolina since 2009 at the Furman Invitational.
On Saturday, September 29, the team travels to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for one of the largest collegiate cross country races in the country at the Paul Short Invitational. Last season at the meet, there were 4,267 finishers and nearly 400 teams in 14 different races at the meet.
The Herd will close the regular season for the third consecutive season at the High Point University VertCross Invitational on Friday, October 12. Last season at the meet, as a team, the men finished fifth out of 17 schools and the women finished sixth out of 16 teams.
The Conference USA Cross Country Championships in 2018 are hosted in Boca Raton, Florida by Florida Atlantic on Saturday, October 27. The C-USA Championships are held for the first time in Florida since Marshall's inaugural season in the conference in 2005, when the meet was hosted by former member UCF.
The NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals are hosted by Penn State University in State College, Pennsylvania on November 9. The meet serves as a qualifier for the NCAA Cross Country Championships hosted by Wisconsin on November 17 in Madison. The Herd looks to qualify the third member ever to the national meet and the first since 2011 (Matt Schiffbauer).
"I believe each meet on our schedule will help prepare us to reach our goals at the conference championship at the end of the season," Bowen said. "It's going to be a fun season and I can't wait to get started."
2018 Marshall Cross Country Schedule
Sat, Sept. 1 - Queen City Invitational - Highland Heights, Kentucky
Sat, Sept. 15 - Winthrop Invitational - Rock Hill, South Carolina
Sat, Sept. 29 - Paul Short Invitational - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Fri, Oct. 12 - VertCross Invitational - Kernersville, North Carolina
Sat, Oct. 27 - Conference USA Cross Country Championships - Boca Raton, Florida
Fri, Nov. 9 - NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals - State College, Pennsylvania
Sat, Nov. 17 - NCAA Cross Country Championships - Madison, Wisconsin
--HerdZone.com--
