Dogs Make Trip To Tuscaloosa For Crimson Classic

ATHENS, Ga. --- The Georgia cross country teams travel to Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Thursday before for the Crimson Classic on Friday morning.

When Do The Starting Guns Fire: The Georgia men will start the meet with an 8k race at 9:30 a.m. ET while the Lady Bulldogs will race in their 6k competition at 10:20 a.m. at the Harry Pritchett Running Park.

Who Is The Competition: Alabama A&M (women), Alcorn State, Auburn, Belmont, Clemson, FIU, Florida State, Jackson State, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State (women), North Florida (men), Samford, South Alabama, South Carolina (women), Southern Miss (women), Southern University and Wallace State will join Georgia and meet host Alabama at the met.

Live Results: http://gado.gs/9o5

Weather: Temperatures are expected to be in the 50s around the University of Alabama's campus on Friday morning.  Clear skies with light winds are predicted.

Henner's Thoughts: "This meet will be more similar to the SEC meet in terms of size of competition.  This will allow us to learn to better position ourselves in the pack," said UGA cross country coach Patrick Henner.  "We really need to race up to our fitness level.  The team has been training very well but has not quite put all of the pieces together in the actual races.  We will make a much stronger commitment to the Dawg pillars of Effort, Execution, Leadership and Fun!"

A number of Georgia men and women will either be making their season debut or career debut in the teams' fourth and final regular season meet of the year.

"Chase Condra has a previous top 15 finish at the SEC Championships.  If he can run at that level again, he will be a strong addition.  The women competing for the first time this year will add depth and give them a chance to develop into contributors."

What Dogs Are Competing: Georgia is expecting to have 19 runners competing.  On the women's side, junior Ellie Hall, sophomores Charlotte Augenstein, Sophia Baker and Aleesa de Castro and freshmen Katherine Law, Audrey Knoper, Lorel Golden, Janie Sandel, Victoria Schneider, Caitlin Schroeder and Simone Rojas will represent the Red and Black.

Juniors Nicolas Fontova and Sam Bowers, sophomores Cooper Bocko, Noah Hayes, Chase Condra, K.C. Heron and Davis Potts and freshman Ethan Nordman will take the course for the Bulldog men.

Debuts:  Schroeder will be making her career debut for UGA while Schneider and Condra will be running for the first time this season.

What Happened Last Time Out: Bowers (51^st) and Rojas (103^rd) posted the best individual finishes to highlight the teams at the Live In Lou Classic in Louisville, K.Y., on Oct. 1.

The Bulldog men raced in their second 8k of the year and finished 22^nd in the first race of the day.  The Lady Bulldogs took part in their third 5k of the season and took 28^th.

Bowers, a native of Milton, Ga., finished as the team leader for the second meet in a row after registering a 24:20.0 for 51^st.  Rojas, an Augusta, Ga., native scored for the third time in her career and led the team for the first time thanks to an 18:05.6 for 103^rd place.

Bowers finished 43 spots ahead of junior Wesley John, who scored for the eighth time in a row bridging two seasons after taking 94^th (24:44.7).  Also running in his second meet of the year, Bocko was Georgia's third finisher for the second consecutive meet with a 24:52.7 for 109^th.  Heron returned to the Bulldogs' top five for the first time since the season opener as he clocked a 24:59.2 for 125^th.  Nordman scored for the second time this year after taking 153^rd on Saturday with a time of 25:12.0

For the women, Augenstein made it three in a row in her squad's top five with a 142^nd-place finish (18:22.5).  Hall was third across the line for the Lady Bulldogs in their third meet with an 18:40.5 for 189^th place.  Golden scored for the first time this year thanks to an 18:54.9 for 218^th place.  Rounding out the scorers was Castro as the Cumming, Ga., native finished 222^nd (18:55.9).

What's Up Next: This will conclude Georgia's regular season slate.  The Bulldogs' postseason will start with the SEC Championships in Oxford, Miss., on Oct. 28.  Georgia will return to the course in Huntsville, Ala., on Nov. 11 where they previously competed at the North Alabama Showcase (Sept. 16) for the NCAA South Regional and is aiming to conclude its season at Nationals near Oklahoma State's campus on Nov. 19.
Keeping Up With The Dogs: Updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams can always be found on Twitter/Instagram (UGATrack).

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Players Mentioned

Charlotte Augenstein

Sophia Baker

Cooper Bocko

Sam Bowers

Chase Condra

Aleesa de Castro

Nicolas Fontova

Lorel Golden

Ellie Hall

Noah Hayes

Wesley John

Audrey Knoper

Katherine Law

Ethan Nordman

Davis Potts

Simone Rojas

Janie Sandel

Victoria Schneider

Caitlin Schroeder