GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum University men's and women's cross country teams will lace up their spikes seven times this fall, including a pair of championship meets to close out the season, according to the 2018 schedule released by head coach Cory Pratt.
The Pioneers will look to build on a 2017 season that saw the men's team win one meet and finish second in another, while the women's team had a second-place team finish and a solid seventh-place performance at the South Atlantic Conference championship.
For the third straight year, the Pioneers will host the Zaxby's Open on the course at the Holston Home for Children in Greeneville on Friday, Sept. 7. The Pioneer men finished second and the women claimed sixth in the field at last year's event.
One week later, the Pioneers make their first of two trips to Lenoir-Rhyne to compete in the L-R Invitational on Friday, Sept. 14. Both Tusculum teams turned in fourth-place finishes in the 2017 meet.
Following an off week, Tusculum will run at the North Georgia Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 29. The meet is a preview of the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 17 on the same course in Oakwood, Georgia.
The October schedule gets underway for the Pioneers on Friday, Oct. 12 with their annual trip to Charlotte to compete in the Royals Cross Country Challenge, hosted by Queens. The Tusculum men's and women's teams each improved their finish in last year's event, each earning 16th place in the deep field.
Tusculum will make its second visit to Lenoir-Rhyne on Friday, Oct. 19 to race in the Lenoir-Rhyne Classic, which will be the final meet of the regular season for the squad.
The South Atlantic Conference Cross Country Championships will be contested on Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Milliken Research Park, located adjacent to the campus of USC Upstate in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The course has hosted conference, regional and national championships over the years, including the 1995 NCAA Division II Championship meet.
The NCAA Division II Southeast Regional will be contested at the University of North Georgia's Gainesville campus in Oakwood. The venue hosted the 2015 Peach Belt Conference championship meet, and will be hosting the regional for the first time.
Any athletes and teams that qualify through the regionals will compete at the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships on Saturday, December 1 at the Cooper's Lake Course in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.