The University of Tennessee men’s and women’s Cross-country teams will head to Louisville this weekend to take part in the Adidas sponsored NCAA Division I Pre National Invitational.
The event itself is known by athletes and coaches as “pre-nationals” due to the fact the Tom Sawyer State Park is also the site of the 2017 NCAA Division I cross country championships on Nov. 18 later this year.
On the men’s side Zach Long, who was just named the SEC runner of the week last week, will look maintain his impressive performances on the season this weekend. Long has run on this track before and competed well on it each time.
“Louisville is my favorite cross country course to run, so I am going into this meet very excited to get out there and compete again,” Long said.
Furthermore, Long also finished in the Top-10 at the Paul Short run earlier this season while going up against some of the nation’s best.
Despite these major accomplishments, Long still wants to accomplish much more this season.
“The 10th-place finish at Paul Short was definitely a confidence booster because it was an opportunity to get out there with some national caliber guys,” Long said. “I still have a long way to go to accomplish the goals I have for this season and that’s what I try to think about the most.”
Long isn’t the only one who has huge expectations for him this season.
Tennessee director of track and field and cross-country Beth Alford-Sullivan is expecting big things from the upperclassmen as well.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that he (Long) is expecting a big race for himself to help propel his team,”Sullivan said.
In Saturdays race David Savic, a sophomore, will make his debut for the Vols. Savic spent his freshman year at the University of South Alabama before transferring to Tennessee.
Savic is a runner to keep an eye on. While at South Alabama, he was named second team Nike All-Southeast Region for cross country.
The men’s 8k race will begin Saturday morning in Louisville at 10 a.m. and the women will follow suit at 10:45 a.m.
The men’s matchups will include Clemson, Georgia, Gonzaga, Missouri, Notre Dame, Ole Miss and Oregon as some of the biggest headliners.
For the women’s team, all-star Megan Murray and freshman Niamh Schumacher will be a couple to watch.
Schumacher, who debuted in the Paul-Short run, impressed coach Sullivan as she finished 85th overall after being pushed to the back near the beginning of the race.
“She’s feeling really good physically, she’s very confident and very excited to race again,” Sullivan said.
Murray finished in the top-20 in the Paul Short run while competing against hundreds of other racers. She crossed the finish line 17th overall with a time of 20:24.
The women will be competing in a 6k race with Abilene Christian, Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Boston College, Bowling Green, Brown, BYU and many more across the nation.
For the men, Long, Slavic, Alex Crigger, Gashaw Duhamel, John Elrod, Conner Hawkins, Andre Hillsman, Adam Johnston, Drew Kelley, Wesley Robinson and Brad Swiney will participate.
The women will run Murray, Schumacher, Cassidy Giles, Taylor Luthringer, Peighton Meske, Emma Reed, Alaina Riordan, Abigail Smith and Rachel Ware, a freshman who will be making her Tennessee debut.
