Men’s Cross Country Set for Atlantic Sun Championships

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It's been two weeks since competing at Milliken Research Park in Spartanburg S.C. for the North Florida men's cross country team and the squad is returning to the site where it knocked off former No. 2 USC Upstate on the Spartans home course. The Ospreys return and hope for a bigger prize at the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Oct. 30.

“We're just excited to be in [contention],” head coach Mark VanAlstyne said. “I think both teams feel like they have a great shot [at the title]. We're not terribly deep, especially on the women's side but we have the personnel to get it done if we go up and race well. That's kind of what our focus is on now. We've talked with each athlete and they know what they need to do. Now, we just have to go up and implement it. The weather looks like it's going to be great, and they're definitely ready.”

The men are currently predicted to finish fourth, behind defending champion Kennesaw State, Belmont and USC Upstate, according to the final Coach's Poll released on Oct. 21. However, North Florida competed well on this course two weeks ago and trails Belmont by just 12 points in the voting.

Historically, North Florida's men notched its highest finish of third in 2009 and have finished in the top seven each year at the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships since transitioning to Division 1 in 2005.

Last year, junior Will Pearce paced the Ospreys to a tie for third-place team finish with 98 points, finishing 10th with a time of 26:36. Pearce earned the program's first All-Conference First-Team accolade.

The meet results will be posted on www.AtlanticSun.org as soon as they are available. The men are slated to toe the line for the 8,000 meter race at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

North Florida Men's Competition Roster

Josh Brown (Jr.)

Cameron Dickerson (Jr.)

Kosta Fotopoulos (Fr.)

Chris Haynes (Fr.)

Will Pearce (Sr.)

James Post (Soph.)

Daniel Schmidt (Fr.)

Mike Strasser (Jr.)

Gilbert Vazquez (Soph.)

Men's Cross Country Coach's Poll (Final – Oct. 21)

School	W-L	Points
Kennesaw State	54-14	120
Belmont	44-30	103
USC Upstate	34-38	97
UNF	29-10	91
Lipscomb	46-67	77
ETSU	23-23	57
Mercer	40-22	53
FGCU	45-40	48
Campbell	40-19	46
Jacksonville	3-21	19
Stetson	11-35	15
W-L determined by the schools a team finishes ahead of (wins) and behind (losses) at each meet.

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