Bulldogs Open Fall Practice
August 16, 2007 | Cross Country
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb men's and women's cross country teams began practice for their fall season at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday morning, followed by a 2:30 p.m. practice at the river.
The men's team will try to improve upon its fourth-place finish in the A-Sun a season ago with a talented squad that features mainly upperclassmen while the women's team, who lost all-conference performer Katherine Warden due to graduation, will try to win a league title in the school's last year of competition in the Atlantic Sun Conference.
"Both teams looked pretty good today," head coach Brian Baker said. "It looks like they each trained hard during the summer.
"Last year, our women's team lost both of its leaders – Michele Milner and Warden - due to graduation. We are looking for someone to step up on that team.
"We didn't have our athletes run all out today, so we won't know where exactly our women are competitively until we start running at a faster pace. Our men feature a lot of upperclassmen, so that helped a lot in terms of where they are."
A few members of the team were completing summer commitments, but the squad should be at full strength by its Monday morning practice.
Both teams open their season at the Western Carolina Open on
Aug. 31.
