2011 GREATER LOUISVILLE CROSS COUNTRY CLASSIC

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DETROIT – Both the men's and women's Detroit Titan cross country teams will participate in the 10th Annual Greater Louisville Cross Country Classic this weekend. The event will take place on Saturday, Oct. 1 with the first race beginning at 9:30 a.m.

The Louisville Sports Commission will host the event that will take place at the E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. There will be three races for both the men and the women. Men's races (8k) will take place at 9:30, 10:45 and noon while the women's races (5k) are scheduled for 10:15, 11:30, and 12:30.

Detroit will take part in the blue races which starts at 10:45 a.m. for the men's team and 11:30 a.m. for the women.

E.P. Tom Sawyer State Park is a well known course that has been the site of five NAIA National Cross Country Championships, the 2007 BIG EAST Conference Championships, and the 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010 NCAA Division I Southeast Regional Championships.

The Greater Louisville Classic will host 96 colleges and universities from 16 states making it one of the largest meets in the south. The Classic will bring together some of the top college cross country programs in the nation, as over 2,000 athletes are expected to compete.

The field will be comprised of 23 men's teams and 26 women's teams that are currently ranked in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Div- I Regional & National, NCAA Div. II National and NCAA Div. III National Cross Country Polls this season.

Again this year, there will be competitive high school and middle school races contested after the college event is completed. It is expected that over 1500 young athletes from Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and Arkansas high schools will be competing Saturday afternoon with the first race at 1:15 pm.

The Titans will return to action after taking last weekend off. Katrina Oberski and Rachel Hofsess ran well at this meet last year. Oberski placed 83rd overall with a time of 19:42, her best time at the course. Hofsess also set a PR with a time of 19:46, landing her 89th overall.

Edwin Gay will look to continue his successful campaign at Louisville. Gay finished 37th overall at the Classic a year ago with a time of 25:57. Martin Nelkie also ran well with a 91st place finish (26:28).