Owls Travel to Indiana for Pre-Nationals
10/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Oct. 14, 2005
Houston -
Rice's men's cross country team will face the toughest test of the 2005 season Saturday as they travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for the Pre-Nationals meet hosted by Indiana State.
The 8,000-meter race is being contested over the same course used for the NCAA national championships in November, and features 10 teams ranked in the national top-30. Number-four BYU and number-five Stanford are the top teams entered.
"This is certainly going to tell us where we stand as we head into the important part of the season," said Owls head coach Jon Warren. "We know we have to be ready to beat some of the top teams in the nation at our regional meet, and this will be a good measuring stick."
Senior Marcel Hewamudalige will lead the Owls after a string of impressive early-season finishes. The Canadian, who won the WAC title last year, was eighth at the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree on Oct. 1 and second at the Rice Invitational in September.
Sophomore transfer Charles Hampton, who joined the Owls from the University of Texas in August, has been strong as the team's number-two runner and will be looking to finish closer to Hewamudalige in this weekend's race, along with senior David Axel and sophomore Colby Keithan. Junior Pablo Solares and freshman Justin Maxwell have also put in solid efforts this fall.
Rice will run in the 33-team Men's Blue Race at 11 am, joined by nationally-ranked BYU, Stanford, Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, Georgetown, Florida State, Ohio State, Indiana, North Carolina State, Kansas and Virginia.
Players Mentioned
