Thursday, October 11, 2012

BOONE, N.C. (Oct. 11, 2012) – ETSU men’s and women’s cross country heads to Boone, N.C. on Friday for the second time this season for the Blue Ridge Open.

The women’s 5k race will lead off the open at 3 p.m. followed by the men’s 8k at 3:45 p.m.  The course is grass and pea gravel with some asphalt at a couple of crossing and the runners will cross two wood floor bridges twice.

The Buccaneers opened the season at Boone in the Covered Bridge Open with both teams showing strong performances for the opening meet of the season.

Last time out the Buccaneers competed in the Greater Louisville Classic on Sept. 29 where the men’s team earned an 18^th-place finish out of 31 teams and the women’s squad were tabbed 21^st in a 43-team field.  Sophomore Filip Jalovy (Modrice, Czech Republic) led the way for the men with his first career sub-25:00.00 time.  Jalovy’s 24:54.11 put him sixth best in the conference.  Freshman Katie Hirko (Oley, Pa.) passed the women with a personal best time of 17:57.80 and a fifth-place finish. Hirko is on top of the conference in the 5k run and 6k run.

The men jumped up four spots to No. 6 in the South Region in last week’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association regional rankings.  The Bucs are the highest ranked team in the Atlantic Sun while Kennesaw State and Mercer are eighth and 11^th respectively in the South Region.  In this week's A-Sun coaches poll the Bucs are slotted second while the women were voted sixth.

Next time out the Bucs will compete at the Atlantic Sun Championships on Oct. 27 at Fort Myers, hosted by FGCU.

ETSU fans wanting to receive Buccaneer news, score updates, in-game promotions and much more sent to their mobile device can do so by signing up for “Buc Updates.” Click here to sign up today!

For more information regarding Buccaneer cross country, visit www.ETSUBucs.com.