EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Men’s and Women’s Cross Country returns to action this weekend when the Screaming Eagles compete at the Brescia Invitational Friday and the UAH Chargers Invitational Saturday.
Friday’s meet is being held at Yellow Creek Park in Owensboro, Kentucky, and is slated to begin with the men’s eight-kilometer race at 4:30 p.m., while Saturday’s meet is being hosted at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama, and is scheduled to begin with the men’s 8k at 7:30 a.m. The women’s 5k Friday is scheduled for a 5:15 p.m. start, while the women’s 5k Saturday is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m.
USI’s men enter this week’s action ranked No. 10 in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association Division II Rankings, while the women are ranked No. 15. USI dropped one spot from No. 9 in the men’s poll despite being idle for the previous two weekends, while the women’s slid five spots from No. 10 in last week’s poll.
The Screaming Eagles are coming off a strong performance at the Redbird Invitational three weeks ago that saw the men finish second in a 12-team field that featured USI and 11 NCAA Division I programs.
Junior Noah Hufnagel (Santa Claus, Indiana) and sophomore Mitchell Hopf (Santa Claus, Indiana) each clocked top-10 finishes to lead USI. Hufnagel was second out of 116 competitors, earning GLVC Runner of the Week honors for his efforts, while Hopf was ninth. Senior Wyat Harmon (Fredericktown, Ohio) and junior Titus Winders (Mansfield, Indiana) were 17th and 19th, respectively, to aid the men’s squad.
Senior Jennifer Comastri (Indianapolis, Indiana) finished 10th out of 144 competitors to lead the women’s squad to a fifth-place finish in a 13-team, Division I field at the Redbird Invitational. Comastri finished the 6k course in 21 minutes, 16.90 seconds, nearly 13 seconds faster than the 11-place finisher and less than a minute off the winning pace.
Sophomore Hadley Fisher (Evansville, Indiana) aided USI’s women with a 38th-place finish, while fellow classmate Cameron Hough (Olney, Illinois) was 48th.
Friday and Saturday’s races are the final meets USI is scheduled to compete in prior to the GLVC Championships October 23 in Romeoville, Illinois.
