Aug. 31, 2007

KENNESAW, Ga. - The men's cross country team takes to the road this weekend as the Owls open up the season at the Jacksonville State University Season Opener on Saturday morning in Alabama.

A talent-laden roster will look to repeat as champions of this event. Last season, the Owls had five runners finish in the top eight as they won the race by 16 points over host Jacksonville State.

This season, the 5k race has a stronger field than last year and has more than double the number of teams from last season.

"There will be some competition to push us this year," said head coach Stan Sims on this year's opener. "We expect all of our runners to perform well and we want to win. But, we want to get a good feel for where we are and get a mark for our training."

The men have a number of newcomers to this year's team, but Sims looks to sophomore Peikko Solla and his returnees to have a big race and to again begin the season with a win.

"We have so many talented new faces this year in Steve Murray, Matteo DiCecco and Piotr Witczak," added Sims. "And we look for them to provide a spark to our lineup. However, we expect big things from Peikko this year and he could start it off well on Saturday."

In addition to Solla, the Owls will return a lineup that also includes Bret Luna, Nathan Haskins, Michael Johnson and Max Ndungu.

The women will begin their race at 9:00 a.m. CST at the Jacksonville Industrial Park with the men's race following at 10:00 a.m.