CHARLESTON, S.C. - The College of Charleston cross country program will compete in its third race of the season Friday evening at the Adidas Cross Country Challenge at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, N.C., and it will surely be their biggest test yet.
The men and women will run 6K and 5K races respectively, and will do so against 13 other Division I programs. On the men's side, the stiffest competition will come from No. 13 Virginia, No. 27 N.C. State and (RV) Florida State, while the women's biggest challenge will come from No. 5 N.C. State, No. 14 Virginia, and North Carolina who is ranked sixth in the southeast region.
However, despite the great collection of talent, the Cougars will likely have their sights set elsewhere. The Elon Phoenix will also be in attendance, giving the Cougars their first taste of CAA competition this year.
The event is hosted by the N.C. State, and this will be the first time the Cougars have gone to Wolfpack territory for a race since back in 2004. Back then, the women finished third out of 11 teams, and the men took fifth out of nine teams.
The men will kick things off at 5:35 p.m. in the men's white race, pitting them against a field exclusively comprising Division I opponents. After that, the women will run their 5K at 6:05 p.m., and will do so against all divisions.