The Eagles Trek to the Peach State to Take on the Asics Invitational
Carson-Newman's cross country squad is heading to Morrow, GA., to try their hand at the Asics invitational. The Eagles will compete in the Peach State for only the third time since the 2009 season.
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - Carson-Newman's cross country squad is heading to Morrow, GA., to try their hand at the Asics invitational. The Eagles will compete in the Peach State for only the third time since the 2009 season.
"Most of the team has run this course in one aspect or another," cross country head coach Mike Spooner said. "Van Gog, Yarid, and Smock ran the race last year, so they'll be able to give a lot of guidance."
Last year, Imke Van Gog was the second-best Carson-Newman runner and finished 35th overall at the Asics Invitational. Two weeks ago, Van Gog finished with a career-best fifth place at the Golden Eagle Invitational hosted by Tennessee Tech.
"It was a big thing for her to connect the dots between what her training is saying she can do versus what she can do on race day," Spooner said. "The way our girls' team is built is that one person feeds off the other."
Freshman Colten Lee, the former four-time regional champion in high school, will be making his debut for the Eagles on Saturday morning.
"With Colten in the mix now, we have a full display of what our team will be," Spooner said. "It's very exciting for me to see what we are and what our identity is to prepare for the postseason.
Raymond Brugmans and Brent Borden will look to build off their stellar start to the season. Borden has been the top guy for the Eagles up to this point. So far this season, he has two top-ten finishes with a seventh-place finish at the Fleet Feet Invitational and a ninth-place spot at the Golden Eagle Invitational.
Brugmans began his second year at Carson-Newman with a 20th place finish at the Fleet Feet Invitational. He followed up that performance with a 14th place spot at the Golden Eagle Invitational.
The Eagles are preparing for a cold, damp race on Saturday morning. Night showers will leave the course damp and a cool 59 degrees at the start of the women's race.
"Half of it is a gravel path similar to our Mossy Creek. The other half is long grass stretches," Coach Spooner said. "The grass will be wet and potentially an issue for the first half, but that second half will be a lot faster. We've been doing a lot of training with long stretches to get their mindset to gauge long stretches. I think that this will be a course that suits us well."
For more information about the Eagles' cross country team, visit CNEagles.com or follow @CN_Eagles on Twitter.
