Cross country teams ready to start season

MONTGOMERY, Ala.  – The Huntingdon men's and women's cross country teams will open the season on Friday evening in Oxford, Ala.

In the program's second season back after a four-year hiatus, Huntingdon will begin the season in the JSU Strut's Season Opener.

The women's 5K race is set for 6 p.m. with the men's 7K race to follow at around 6:45 p.m.

Head Coach Ian Layne on starting the season: "I am excited to get the first race under our belts Friday evening at JSU. The team is really starting to come into its own and I really want to see where we are as a team. We are very young on both sides, but we are focused to make a push to be higher than our preseason rankings from the USA South.

"The effort at practice thus far has been great. The goal for this season is to create a culture of excellence in everything we do. From practice to the classroom, we want to excel."

Layne on what he is looking for in the season opener: "For the first meet, I want to see good effort throughout the race. Each race we have this season is a dress rehearsal for the big meet of the year, the USA South Championships. We want to use this first race to set a good tone for the rest of the season. The main goal is to develop throughout the year so that by the end of October, the athletes are the freshest and fastest they have been all year."

Layne on hosting the first meet in program history on Sept. 8: "This is an exciting year for the Huntingdon cross country program as well as for Huntingdon athletics as a whole. It's every program's dream to be able to have a place to call home.

"A huge thank you goes to Huntingdon College Board of Trustees Chairman Dave Borden for allowing us to use his land for our home cross country course. I am excited to get the first race under our belts and continue to grow this meet in the future. A big thank you also goes to Senior Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, Planning and Administration Jay Dorman and the Huntingdon maintenance staff for going above and beyond for the program to get this course ready. It truly means the world to me and to the program to be able to have the support that we do at Huntingdon."