The Carolinian Staff

The UNCG men’s and women’s cross country teams head to McAlpine Creek Park in Charlotte this Friday for the Queen City Invite, their first invitational meet of the season. The Spartan harriers did not compete among the 16 women’s and 15 men’s teams in last year’s event but added it to their schedule as their second race for this year’s season. 

The teams have only raced once this season, facing off in a dual meet against Wake Forest on Sept. 1 at Salem Lake Trail in Winston-Salem. There, they were paced by seniors Jenna Reiter and Shay Soukup and sophomores Reagan O’Quinn and Victoria Sosa, who all finished within one second of each other. The men’s side had three runners accomplish the same feat—juniors Colin Keck and Ethan Long and sophomore Luke Ward. The teams will look to improve on their performances before another two-week break, after which they head to Conway, South Carolina, for the Chanticleer Challenge hosted by Coastal Carolina University. 

The Southern Conference (SoCon) Preseason Poll has the women’s team picked to finish eighth in the conference, while the men are expected to be the fifth-place team. The Spartans will host the SoCon Cross Country Championships for the second time in program history, welcoming the other nine teams to the Ivey M. Redmon Sports Complex in Kernersville on Friday, Oct. 27.