Story by Mark McFarland, Assistant Sports Editor
Murray State will host the OVC Championship in cross-country on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Francis E. Miller Memorial Golf Course.
The OVC Championship comes two weeks after the Pre-Nationals race in Louisville, Kentucky, where both the men’s and women’s teams finished 28th in their respective categories.
Both teams have been working and preparing for this weekend for the last several weeks, Head Coach Jenny Swieton said.
“Both teams workout better than any team I have ever coached,” Swieton wrote in an email. “They are definitely ready to put it all out there and see what happens.”
With the race being in Murray, the team feels that they have the upper hand on the competition.
“It is definitely an advantage to be hosting the OVC Championship race this year,” Lucas Prather, senior from Mahomet, Illinois, wrote in an email. “The course is not easy but we have had an extensive amount of familiarization with the course.”
The seniors on the teams want to be able to run the best race they possibly can because of the fact that it is one of the last races in their careers, Prather wrote.
“We are ready for these last races,” Prather wrote. “It has been such an awesome journey to have had the opportunity to run with some really great people.”
Coach Swieton wrote that teamwork is key to doing well in the upcoming event.
“They are all out there suffering together,” she wrote. “They form a bond because of that. When it really starts to hurt it may not be too hard to give up on yourself but they would never give up on the team and that pushes them to keep going.”
There will be 12 teams competing this weekend for the OVC Championship. This race is the final race before the NCAA Regional race Nov. 13 in Charlottesville, Virginia.