Sept. 7, 2005

BOCA RATON, FL -- Florida Atlantic University's cross country teams will take the trip up to Gainesville, FL, this weekend to take part in the Gator Invitational.

"On the women's side, it's our first race of the season with some of the veterans. We are really anxious to see how we are going to match up against the best in the state. I expect a pretty strong performance," head coach Alex Smolka said.

"On the men's side, after last week we got our bearings on the season. This should be a good first test for them," he added.

The race is set to begin at 5 p.m. on Friday.

This week the Owls will hope to get some of their veterans into the mix and have a successful first race for a majority of the athletes.

"The idea this year is to focus on a few specific races," Smolka said. "We really want to make sure we train hard and want to be able to gauge how we match up with some of the region's top teams. Everyone has had a strong off season, and I'm excited to see where we can go."