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McMurry University's cross country teams head to Clinton, Miss. Saturday to run in the American Southwest Confernece Cross Country Championships. For the men, the team will be looking to break a seven-year streak of runner-up finishes while the women will look for their first ASC title since 2006.
On the men's side, McMurry will be running with four senior men who have been a part of the program all four years.
Ken Wheeler and
Brad Mullens have the top two times in the ASC in 2009 for men's 8K races. Wheeler's best came Sept. 19 with a time of 25:51.62 while Mullens ran a 27:15.60 Sept. 26.
“The men's team is ready to go and will compete well for the conference title,” said head coach
David Chandler.
Wheeler said Monday on McMurry's Sports Overtime Radio Show that he would like a chance for McMurry to win the conference title and for him to become the first McMurry runner since his head coach to win the individual title in 2000.
On the women's side, the team is led by senior
Carla Lewis who was the individual champion at the ASC Championships in 2006 when McMurry won the title. Lewis, the third-year runner from Tuscola, sat out her junior season but came back in 2009 and holds the top 6K, 5K and 4K time in the ASC this season. Her best 6K race came on Sept. 26 when she ran the race in 24 minutes flat.
Mississippi College will play host to the conference championships Saturday morning with the women's 6K race beginning at 8:30 a.m.and the men's 8K race at 9:15 a.m. Chandler said that the course could get muddy.
“The course is a great rolling hills course,” he said. “We have been told that the course will be a little sloppy due to all the rain they have gotten in the last few weeks.”
For Chandler, Saturday will be one of sentiment who has watched all the senior runners grow over the past four years.
“Conference is significant for the seniors and the rest of our team because people remember it,” said Chandler. “The seniors on our team need to run their race and be aggressive. The trick when you are a senior is to run in the moment and run free. I am confident they will all run well.”
