For Immediate Release: Friday, 12 September 2003
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240

UTPA SET FOR LOBO INVITATIONAL

EDINBURG, TX- The University of Texas Pan American's cross country team will face some tough competition when they compete at the Lobo Invitational Saturday at the University of New Mexico's North Golf Course. The women will run 6,000 meters at 10:20 a.m. Central Time, and the men will run 8,000 meters at 10:50 a.m. CT.

The field will include four-time defending NCAA Division II champion Western State, Colorado State, which finished 27th nationally last season, Louisiana State, Texas Tech, New Mexico State, Texas-El Paso, New Mexico Highlands, Eastern New Mexico and Fort Lewis, along with the host Lobos and the Broncs and Lady Broncs.

"This is a great meet for us, it's really going to test us and let us know where we're at and what we need to work on," said UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. "The competition is a much higher caliber than we normally face at this time in the year."

Vaughn said that facing a challenging field would help Texas-Pan American later in the season. "I felt that last year, we probably didn't run that well at regionals because of some of the competition we saw during the year," said Vaughn. "This year, we tried to beef up our competition, so when we get to regionals, we can perform better."

After Saturday's meet, UTPA will return to action at the Whataburger Invitational in San Antonio Friday, October 26th.

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