Toledo, OH – The University of Toledo men's and women's 2009 cross country schedules were released today, and for the first time in school history, both teams will start their season with a home dual meet, facing off against rival Bowling Green on Friday, Sept. 4 at the Ottawa Park Golf Course.

With both squads returning their entire rosters intact from the 2008 season, head coach Kevin Hadsell has high expectations for the Rocket harriers.

"I have been looking forward to this fall for quite some time," said Hadsell, who enters his 12th year directing the cross country programs. "We are still very young. On the women's side, we have only two seniors on a team of 28. But I think with the improvements we have made on the track and with another great recruiting class coming in, we can place ourselves in a position to challenge for another MAC Championship.

"This also looks to be a perfect schedule to continue to improve our men's program. They have been steadily getting better the last few years and this year should be no exception."

Following the home dual meet, the UT men will run at Bowling Green's Mel Brodt Invitational on Sept. 11, while the women will be off until Sept. 26, when they compete at the William and Mary Invitational in Williamsburg, VA. Host William and Mary is the defending Colonial Conference champions.

 

Both teams will run at the Loyola Lakefront Invitational, one of the largest collegiate cross country meets in the country, which takes place on Oct. 3 in Chicago. The UT women will be making their first-ever appearance in the meet, while the men will be making their third appearance.

 

After a week off, the men and women will also both compete at the Pre-NCAA Invitational on Oct. 17 in Terre Haute, IN. The regular season concludes with both teams running at the Eastern Michigan Open on Oct. 23 in Ypsilanti, MI.

 

Ohio University hosts the MAC Championships on Oct. 31 in Athens, where the women seek their fifth top-two finish in nine years. A championship would give the Rockets three titles in the past decade, more than any other MAC program. The men look to best their highest-ever showing at the MAC meet, a sixth-place finish in 2003. In 2008, the women finished sixth while the men placed eighth in the MAC.

 

The season concludes with the NCAA Regional Meet on Nov. 14 in Bloomington, IN, and the NCAA Championships on Nov. 23 in Terre Haute, IN.

 

The women are led by senior Renata Volf (Krizevci, Croatia), who redshirted last year but was an All-MAC and NCAA All-Region selection in cross country in 2007; senior Dagna Sztykiel (Bytum, Poland), who finished third at the 2009 MAC Outdoor Championships in the 3000m steeplechase and was an NCAA Regional Qualifier in that event; and junior Karen Sovacool (Lakewood, OH), who was the team's top finisher last year at the MAC Cross Country Championships where she finished 17th. 

 

On the men's side, top returners include senior Kenneth Samoei (Kapsabet, Kenya) and juniors Elisha Kipchumba (Nairobi, Kenya) and Chris Wall (Centerville, OH). The Rockets improved over 150 points from 2007 to 2008 and won their first invitational, the Falcon Invitational, in over 20 years.