CROSS COUNTRY CENTRAL: Bulldog SEC Preview

September 08, 2017 | Track & Field

Men's 8K Course Map Women's 6K Course Map

Tennessee heads to Athens, Georgia, to compete in UGA's home races

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee men's and women's cross country teams head to Athens, Georgia, to compete in Saturday's Bulldog SEC Preview at UGA Golf Course.

Tennessee-Louisville Dual

RACE DAY INFO

Date: Sept. 8, 2017
Location: UGA Golf Course
Host: Georgia Bulldogs
Men's 8K Race: 8:30 a.m. ET
Women's 6K Race: 9:15 a.m. ET
Meet Central: Click Here
Directions To Course: Click Here
Course Maps: Men's 8K | Women's 6K

Address of UGA Golf Course
2600 Riverbend Road
Athens, GA 30605

Tennessee Men Competing
Alex Crigger, FR
Gashaw Duhamel, SO
John Elrod, FR
Conner Hawkins, FR
Andre Hillsman, JR
Adam Johnston, FR
Drew Kelley, JR
Zach Long, JR
Wesley Robinson, JR
Brad Swiney, SO

Tennessee Women Competing
Cassidy Giles, JR
Taylor Luthringer, FR
Maddison Melchionna, SR
Peighton Meske, JR
Megan Murray, SO
Emma Reed, JR
Alaina Riordan, FR
Jessica Rizor, JR
Niamh Schumacher, FR
Abigail Smith, FR

The men's 8K race will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET. The women's 5K race will begin at 9:15 a.m. ET.

This meet will feature squads from Tennessee, Georgia, Texas A&M, Auburn, LSU, South Carolina and Georgia Tech. The SEC teams competing on Saturday will make a return trip to UGA Golf Course on Oct. 27 when Georgia hosts the SEC Championships at the same venue. The Bulldog SEC Preview is the first meet Georgia has hosted at the golf course since 2007.

Admission is free to the Bulldog SEC Preview and parking will be available at the UGA Golf Course. The first 100 fans to the meet will be treated to free donuts and juice at the UGA Promotions table.

"We are looking forward to the competition," Tennessee director of track and field/cross country Beth Alford-Sullivan said. "We are going back-to-back weekends, which is not our traditional style, but it fit to get onto the SEC Championship course as Georgia is hosting in late October. It fit in our schedule to see them early so we get to know this course and get some exposure on it and have the student-athletes race it and feel that they have gained some insight on preparing for the championship at the end of October."

Ten UT men are scheduled to run in the 8K, including junior Zach Long, who is making his season debut. Long, who posted three top-15 finishes in 2016 and is coming off a 2017 outdoor season in which he earned All-SEC and All-American honors in the 5,000 meters.

"Adding Zach Long into the lineup will definitely help us and strengthen us up as well," Alford-Sullivan said. "We are thrilled to get him going too. He has been chomping at the bit to get going."

In addition to Long, fellow juniors Andre Hillsman, Drew Kelley and Wesley Robinson, sophomores Brad Swiney and Gashaw Duhamel and freshmen Alex Crigger, John Elrod, Conner Hawkins and Adam Johnston will compete for UT.

Robinson is coming off a second-place finish (20:33.41) in the men's four-mile race against Louisville on Sept. 2. Elrod finished third in 20:35.28 and Crigger, who competed unattached, took third place in 20:40.04.

"We are going to put [Crigger] in the Orange this weekend, so he has earned his stripe, so to speak, and ready to go," Alford-Sullivan said.

Sophomore Megan Murray leads the 10 Tennessee women slated to compete on Saturday. Murray took third place in the women's 5K against Louisville on Sept. 2, crossing the line in 17:32.54. Senior Maddison Melchionna, juniors Cassidy Giles, Peighton Meske, Emma Reed and Jessica Rizor and freshmen Taylor Luthringer, Alaina Riordan, Niamh Schumacher and Abigail Smith will join Murray in Tennessee Orange this week.

Alford-Sullivan is looking forward to seeing how her young women's team adapts to running a 6K.

"With the ladies, we are very pleased and they are very young and they seem to be getting more and more comfortable," she said. "It will be the first time for the freshmen to run a 6,000-meter race. It is a traditional 5,000 meters in high school. So we will see some of that transition take place."