BOLIVAR, Mo. -- The SBU Bearcat cross country teams will travel south to Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas, to participate in the Harding Bison Stampede.

Harding’s men’s team is ranked #3 in the nation. Their women’s team stands at #9 nationally. Drury University, who will also participate in the meet, currently stands at #17 in the nation on the men’s side.

The men’s race is 8K and the women will run 5K. It is one of SBU’s smaller meets of the year, and their last before the conference meet in two weekends (October 25 in Warrensburg).

"Our kids are working hard," said SBU’s head coach, Corey McElhaney. "They are responding well to the workouts we’ve been giving them. This is the toughest part of the season, and they’ve really been giving great effort. We’re taking the whole squad on both sides to Harding - so every cross country runner on our roster will be going down to Searcy for the meet. It’s a good, fast course, with just a few hills, so it will be a good opportunity for many of our kids to get a PR."

McElhaney reflected on the 2008 season to this point.

"We haven’t hit our peak as a team yet. It seems we have one or two really great performances each week, but we need to all ‘show up’ so to speak - as a team - on the same weekend. That will be the key to our success, especially during the ‘end of the season’ races that begin in a couple of weeks."

Meet Notes