9/24/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington men's and women's cross country programs will test their mettle Saturday when the Mavericks make their first-ever trip to the University of Minnesota's 29th annual Roy Griak Invitational.
Both UTA teams enter the prestigious meet rated among the top 10 teams in the South Central Region, as the men are currently ranked sixth and the women listed eighth. The Mavs will square off against stout competition that includes a total of 31 men's teams and 36 women's squads.
On the men's side, four top-30 teams in the USTFCCCA national rankings will compete: No. 19 North Carolina, No. 24 Texas, No. 27 Iowa State and No. 29 Colorado State. The six women's teams ranked nationally are No. 3 Michigan State, No. 9 Iowa State, No. 11 Butler, No. 22 Vanderbilt, No. 28 Minnesota and No. 30 North Carolina.
"We're in the tall weeds with the big dogs," UTA coach John Sauerhage said. "The Griak will be a perfect chance to get our feet wet against some of the top programs in the country. We have aspirations of taking our program to the next level, and I think we've improved to the point where we can compete at a meet like this."
The Maverick men will field an eight-person team of Craig Lautenslager, Ryan Tilotta, Emil Blomberg, Eric Ojeda, Virgilio Martinez, Michael Guerrero, Grant Copeland and Robert Gribble.
"We know what we're up against," Sauerhage said. "But this is not a stretch, we've never had a better chance to compete at a national level."
On the women's side, Sauerhage's six who will race are Hannah Nilsson, Katelyn Hayward, Ashly Wright, Gabriela Alfonzo, Tamerah Gorham and Tori Shelton.
"This meet serves a dual purpose by helping us get ready for the conference meet and by exposing us to very high-caliber teams like those we face at regionals," Sauerhage said. "We've had some really strong performances at the top of our lineup, and we need to find a fifth runner we can depend on in order to have a chance to win the Sun Belt this season."
The men run an 8k at 12:20 p.m. (CT), while the women start their 6k race at 1:10 p.m. The meet will be contested at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. Live results will be available on gophersports.com, while a live pay-per-view broadcast will be available via Flotrack.org.
