Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Queen City Invite
Herd Cross Country Travels to Queen City Invite for First Road Meet
9/10/2026 12:00:00 PM | Cross Country
Championship Fund | Relay Club
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – After a strong season-opening home meet to open the 2026 season, Marshall Cross Country travels to Charlotte for the Queen City Invite.
The Friday evening meet at McAlpine Creek Park starts at 6 p.m. with the Women's 5K. The Men's 8K race follows at 6:45 p.m.
Friday's meet is the first of three on the road for Marshall to prepare for before the Sun Belt Conference Championships in Foley, Alabama on October 30.
"I'm looking forward to getting on the road for the first time this season," Director of XC/TF Keith Roberts said. "There's nothing better than competing at home, but being on the road is a great way to prepare for conference travel. This is a great meet and a good course to run on, so the team will be excited to get out there and compete."
In the opening meet, Marshall's women won the Thundering Herd Invitational, with Rachael Withrow taking the individual title. With her time of 16:11, Withrow was named the SBC Women's Runner of the Week Wednesday.
"This season has been great so far, joining the team as a grad. transfer, I've been welcomed into the family atmosphere of Marshall, which has made training so fun!" said Withrow. "For the season, I definitely have my eyes on the team title at conference and believe that we're capable. Personally, breaking the 16 minute barrier would be super exciting! I'm looking forward to competing with the girls and seeing where the season takes us!"
The Herd men finished second at the opening meet. Justin Lipscomb led the MU men with a time of 15:27 in the season's lone 5K, as the team now transitions into the SBC Championship 8K distance.
"For this meet I'm sure everyone has the same individual goal, to PR," said Lipscomb. "However, as a team I obviously expect us to compete for the win. The boys are fit, I have seen it in the workouts. We have a bad taste in our mouth from last week, and while it's fun to run fast early in the season, the goal is to get faster each race week until ultimately peaking at conference. Our first 8K tomorrow is a great opportunity to start this trend."
"We are definitely excited to get back into it," said Head Cross Country Coach Caleb Bowen. "Coming off a strong home meet, it was great to see Rachael win SBC Runner of the Week. We are now going to try and get a little better than we were last week. The course looks good, it's mostly crushed gravel so we will use a different shoe choice. The course should lend to faster times so we are excited about that."
"We have a great group on the women's side pacing with Rachael. We have a great squad that is close together like Ellie Hosaflook, Taylor Spencer, Brayleigh Becken and others fight for those four through six spots."
"The men's side had a 10 second split one through five, so we are going to try to keep that for an 8K which is more difficult than a 5K, but we believe this group is ready for that. I would also like to see our top guy even farther up competing for a top spot with our fifth guy as close as possible."
To donate to the Championship Fund for Marshall XC/TF, please click HERE. All proceeds go directly to Marshall's Cross Country and Track & Field teams. To support Marshall XC/TF's Relay Club, please click HERE.
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