Cross Country Kicks Off Season At Charlotte Opener

August 30, 2018 | Cross Country

ATHENS, Ga. --- Georgia's cross country teams will travel to Concord, N.C., on Thursday in preparation for their first meet of the season at the Charlotte Opener on Friday evening.

When & Where: The Georgia men will start the season off with their 5k race at 6 p.m. around the Frank Liske Park, which is located northeast of Charlotte.  The Lady Bulldogs will race in their own 5k at 6:30 p.m.

Who Is The Competition: Charlotte, Davidson (women), North Carolina, Queens, Wake Forest and West Virginia (women) will be competing against the Bulldogs.

Cunniff's Quotes: "With the first meet being still in August, both of our first two meets are to bust off the rust and see where we are," said Bulldog distance coach Patrick Cunniff, who is starting his seventh year at his alma mater.  "We are excited about the prospect of both teams progressing in their own way.  The women return all five of the team members who finished one through five for the team at the NCAA Championships, we've brought in an exciting class of freshmen and we believe some women from last year's team also took steps forward.  They are geared towards SECs, Regionals and Nationals and we are trying to take one step forward with each person.

"For the guys, we cut down the forest, some new trees get some light and we get to see who steps forward. We lost our top four runners and we have a number of guys who are in their third or fourth year and this is their chance to step into the lineup and see what they can do."

Cunniff and his team are eyeing the late October and November races to peak.  However, they also understand that the work has to be put in now to advance to the final race of the year.

"We look forward to using this first meet to practice our routines.  How do we handle our travel and eating beforehand and once we get to the course, how do we handle our warmup and how do we control ourselves. We won't be overly concerned about the results since this will really give us a great chance to get some pre-race nerves but concentrate on ourselves."

What Dogs Are Traveling: Georgia will have 21 runners competing in its first meet of the year.  On the women's side, juniors Ansley Heavern, Tiffany Yue, sophomores Millie Bergey, Halle McClintock and freshmen Emma Rose Bagwell, Grace Clements, Skylar English, Anna Marian Block, Maddie Heller, Nicole Pachuta, Marisa Petit and Erika Plummer will represent the Red and Black.

Senior Daniel Navarro, juniors Tyler Jones, Ryan Peppenhorst, Jonathan Pelham, sophomores Jack Bradley, Michael Hans, Nate Reichard, Davis Stockwell and freshman Quinn Burden will take the course for the Bulldog men.

Joel Eaves Award Recipient: When Yue returns to Athens, she will then be honored as the 2018-19 Joel Eaves Scholar-Athlete Award recipient on the women's side at the Georgia-Austin Peay football game on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.  She enters the fall semester of her senior year (academically) with the highest grade point average of any UGA female student-athlete, including 4.0 GPAs the last spring and fall semesters in her Anthropology major.

Where Are The Dogs Ranked: The Lady Bulldogs checked in at No. 19 in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national preseason poll and second in the group's South Region poll. The Georgia women, who were second at last year's Southeastern Conference Championships and at the 2017 NCAA South Regional, are also picked to take second at this season's SEC meet.

Five of the regular scorers for the Georgia women in 2017 – seniors Hailey Branch, Grace Tavani and juniors Jessica Drop, Samantha Drop and Yanely Gomez – will sit this week's meet out as they prepare for next weekend's home meet.

The Georgia men have been picked to take eighth at the 2018 SEC Championships and ninth at this year's South Regional.  The Bulldogs lost four of their regular scorers for last season and have welcomed seven newcomers to the squad to complement a number of past contributors.

What's Up Next: After the opener, the Bulldogs return to the UGA Golf Course on Saturday, Sept. 8, to play host to the Bulldog Invitational, which is the team's only home meet of the year. Georgia has five regular season meets scheduled before the SEC Championships arrive in Auburn, Ala., on Friday, Oct. 26.

The Lady Bulldogs will be gunning to qualify for two straight NCAA meets while the Georgia men are in search of their first berth since 2013 at the NCAA South Regional in Tallahassee, Fla., on Friday, Nov. 9. The NCAA Championships are set for Saturday, Nov. 17 in Madison, Wisc.

Keeping Up With The Dogs: Updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack) and Snapchat (ugatrack).