For Immediate Release: Wednesday, 20 August 2003
Contact: Dave Geringer, UTPA Sports Information Director, (956) 381-2240
XC SCHEDULE FEATURES TOUGH COMPETITION
EDINBURG, TX-An excellent schedule awaits The University of Texas-Pan American's cross country team this fall.
The Broncs and Lady Broncs will face some of the top competition in the region and the nation, participating in several very competitive meets in preparation for the NCAA Regional Championships on November 15th.
Texas-Pan American will open the season by hosting the UTPA Relay Challenge at the Ebony Golf Course in Edinburg Friday, September 5th. In September, the Broncs and Lady Broncs will also compete at the New Mexico Invitational, and at Texas-San Antonio's Whataburger Invitational.
In October, UTPA will visit Texas A&M-Corpus Christi October 3rd, then will compete at Arkansas' prestigious Chili Pepper Invitational October 18th. The Broncs and Lady Broncs will visit Corpus Christi again for the Independent Championships November 1st before competing at the NCAA Regionals at Baylor November 15th. The NCAA Championships will be hosted by Northern Iowa on Monday, November 24th.
"I think this will be a much better schedule than we've had in the past," said UTPA Head Coach Ricky Vaughn. "It will allow us to get our experienced runners a higher level of competition. When we run at New Mexico and when we go to the Chili Pepper Invitational, we're going to run against some very good teams. New Mexico has had individuals qualify for the NCAA Championships, and LSU and Texas-El Paso will also be there, and they have very good teams."
"The Chili Pepper is one of the premier cross country meets in the country," Vaughn continued. "It will allow us to get the kind of experience that will help us at regionals. Last year, I thought we didn't have enough big meet experience."
Vaughn said that all of UTPA's runners will benefit. "Another thing our schedule will do is allow our younger runners to get experience at the collegiate level," Vaughn said. "We are going to be a very young team, and our meet, and the meet at Corpus Christi will allow us to get more experience at the collegiate level, as well as help us get better prepared for our big meets, and for regionals."
The home opener will be unique. "It will be us, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Texas A&M-International, and the format will be a little different," said Vaughn. "The teams will be running in a relay format. The meet will allow us to see where we're at, and determine which of our student-athletes will travel to New Mexico."
The Broncs and Lady Broncs will focus on preparing for regionals. "The meet at Corpus will be a good one, with Houston and Rice coming, and the Independent Championships will have us and Corpus, as well as Northern Colorado and UC Davis," said Vaughn. "We're trying to advance individuals and teams to the NCAAs, and our schedule is set up to allow us to do that."