GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Furman Cross Country Invitational 5K will be held Sat., Sept. 17, on the Furman University Golf Course.
The races will kick off with the collegiate women's 5K at 9:15 a.m., and the collegiate men's 5K event will commence at 10 a.m. Both races will be held on the cross country course of the Furman Golf Club, which has hosted two NCAA Division I Cross Country championships, and will consist of a one-mile loop repeated three times.
In addition to the Paladins, teams competing include Claflin, Clemson, Columbia College, Johnson & Wales, Morris, Southern Wesleyan, Wake Forest (women only), Warren Wilson, and Wofford.
"This will be first meet where we will run our full squads," said Furman head coach Robert Gary. "Starting with our annual stakeholder dinner the night before, I consider this the real start to our season. We are very excited about our teams this year and look forward to competing at home. It is great to have President Davis and so many seniors administrators attend the dinner, as well as what seems like every sport attending our home cross country meet on Saturday morning."
The Furman men's team enters the meet ranked 21st nationally, while the women come in at 28th nationally.
On the men's side, Furman, which has captured the last nine Southern Conference Championships, returns 14 runners from last season. Senior Cameron Ponder, the reigning SoCon Runner of the Year, is rehabilitating from an injury in hopes of returning prior to the league meet, while junior Dylan Schubert, the 2021 SoCon individual runner-up, also returns this season. Sophomore Gabe Montague and junior Carson Williams each posted top-10 finishes last year.
The Paladins return 12 competitors from last year's women's squad. Junior Bethany Graham, an All-American selection in 2021, was honored as last season's SoCon Runner of the Year after winning the league individual title, while junior Emily Little finished as runner-up at last year's SoCon meet. All nine of Furman's competitors from last year's league meet return in 2022.
Live results will be available following the meet at https://www.ptgrouponline.com/ and http://www.furmanpaladins.com, the official website for Furman University athletics.
