Harriers in action after long layoff

Utah State’s men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to what USU head coach Greg Gensel calls one of the most competitive meets in the nation this weekend, the Stanford Invitational.

“We’re excited to get back to running,” he said.

The last time the cross country team competed was the first of the month at the Idaho State Invitational. Now, they’ll be running again Saturday, which is a long break between competition. They had one meet scheduled Sept. 15 at Montana State, but was canceled due to the terrorist attacks on Sept 11.

The teams have shown they are very competitive as the men’s team won the Idaho State Invitational meet and the women finished fourth. Steve Prescott won the race while Mitch Zundel (fourth), Brick Bergeson (ninth) and Mike Nielson (10th) all placed in the top 10.

The women placed three runners in the top 10. Shae Messersmith led the way with a sixth place finish, Christi Howell took seventh and Melanie McClellan finished 10th.

The Aggies are fighting to stay competitive with the monotony of four weeks of practice with no real competition, Gensel said. Meets are important to “gauge where you’re at,” he said.

The cross country team has a goal to qualify for nationals as a team.

National qualifying teams will be decided at a regional meet in November.

The Stanford Invitational is a stepping stone to get where the Aggies want to be. Last year the men’s team took sixth and the women placed 32nd overall.

Both men’s and women’s

team’s will be in action next week when USU travels to South Bend, Ind. to compete in the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday at 3 p.m.

USU will host its only home meet on Oct. 12 at the Logan river golf course.