Army West Point Athletics
2019 Cross Country Schedule Announced
July 08, 2019 | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army West Point director of cross country and track & field Mike Smith has announced the team's 2019 cross country schedule which will feature two home meets including the annual Army-Navy Star Meet.
"The priority in our scheduling is to emphasize the championship season which begins with the Army-Navy Meet and culminates with the NCAA Championships," Smith said.
The team will open its campaign at the fifth annual Army-Maine Dual Meet before returning home to compete in the Army Open at Bowdoin Park in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.
"The Army Open gives us a good opportunity to run on our home course which is particularly important in a year like this when we will be hosting Navy," he said. "One of our objectives with the early season meets is to give as many kids an opportunity to run as possible. We can take the vast majority of our roster, so we can really get a good look at our squad before we have to cut down to the top-12 in the championship season."
The Black Knights will then head to Boston, Mass., for the Coast to Coast Battle of Beantown and Bethlehem, Pa., for the Paul Short Run.
"These two meets are a good chance for our teams to face strong competition before heading into the championship meets," Smith said. "We were able add the Coast to Coast Battle of Beantown this year because there's an extra week in the calendar this season. We chose this meet because there is a good cross-section of schools from around the country and because we anticipate that course to host the regional championships in the coming years, so it will be a good chance for some of our younger runners to gain some experience there."
The Cadets will host the annual Army-Navy Star Meet on Oct. 18. The teams split results in 2018, with Army winning the men's meet and Navy winning the women's meet.
"Army-Navy is always a tremendously competitive meet," Smith said. "The course is built to be a great spectator course with a loop built in so that fans can get a great view of different parts of the course. It will be very exciting"
The Patriot League Championship will be held at Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y. The Black Knights will be looking to claim their third consecutive men's cross country league title.
"Colgate is a pretty challenging course with different terrains, so there are a lot of different factors at play in that meet," Smith noted. "It will be a good test for both of our teams as our men's team aims to defend its title"
Buffalo, N.Y., will once again host the Northeast Regional Championship on Nov. 15. Senior Roman Ollar battled through the snow last season to place third and qualify for the NCAA Championships.
"It seems like each year we've been there we have dealt with very tough weather conditions, whether it be snow or rain and sleet and mud," Smith said. "Those conditions have brought out the best in our team, so if we face them again, we should be strong."
The cross country season will then culminate at the Indiana State University hosted NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. Army has sent individual competitors from the men's team in each of the past two seasons.
"This is a course that I am very familiar with from my time at Kansas State," Smith said. "After sending individuals the past couple of years and being right on the cusp as a team, we hope that we'll be able to compete throughout our schedule and have a chance to qualify as a team and be competitive in doing so."
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Players Mentioned
