Sept. 17, 2015

By Drew Harris | UTAMavs.com

ARLINGTON, Texas - UT Arlington will welcome area college and high school teams Saturday morning at its annual Gerald Richey Invitational. The 2015 edition of the meet marks the third straight year that the race will be held at Lynn Creek Park in Grand Prairie.

The university women will run first at 8 a.m., followed by the university men approximately 20 minutes later. Both groups will run 5k races.

"Running well this weekend at our home meet is very important to us," UTA coach John Sauerhage said. "Our student-athletes always love getting the opportunity to compete in front of friends and family."

The men's team held steady in the season's second U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's regional rankings, as the Mavericks remain sixth in the South Central Region. The women are also among the region's top 15, ranking 13th.

Men's and women's teams from Baylor, as well as the SMU women's squad, will join UTA in the Division I race. On the men's side, Baylor is ranked 11th in the region, while Baylor (3rd) and SMU (4th) are both among the top 5 in the women's South Central Region. Other colleges scheduled to compete are Dallas Baptist, Texas Wesleyan and Paul Quinn.

"This is a big meet for a lot of reasons," Sauerhage said. "It will help determine who will be on our travel squad and also will help get our top runners tuned up and ready to compete at our major meets that are just around the corner. We are looking to use this meet as a springboard for the main part of our cross country season."

High school boys and girls races will be contested following the college races. The course is the same one that teams will race at the UIL Regional Championships next month (Oct. 26).

Lynn Creek Park at Joe Pool Lake is located at 5610 Lake Ridge Parkway in Grand Prairie. Results of the college and high school races can be found runfarusa.com.

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