June 18, 2009

RAMS RELEASE 2009 SCHEDULE

RICHMOND, Va. – With six of its seven runners returning from last season, the Virginia Commonwealth University women’s cross country team is looking to reach new heights in 2009.

“We’re excited by the potential of our returners and the athletes we have added this year through the recruiting process,” Assistant Coach Ethan Tussing, overseer of women’s cross country, said.

The slate in which the Rams will try and reach new heights has been released with new high-level meets such as the Penn State National Meet and the Winthrop Asics Invitational highlighting the schedule.

“This season we’ll break away from the Virginia cross country circuit and take this team to a number of top level competitions that have large numbers of teams competing, while still hitting a few meets where we have traditionally performed well. We feel that this combination of meets play a huge role in the development of a very young team which will consist completely of freshmen and sophomores. It gives our athletes the competitive edge we will need to continue to move forward,” Tussing added.

VCU will open its campaign inside the city limits at the Spider Alumni Open on Saturday, August 29th and will again stay in-state for its second meet, the Virginia Tech Relays on Friday, September 5th.

The Black & Gold head south for meets at Winthrop (September 19th) and Hagan Stone Park in Greensboro, N.C. (Oct. 3rd) before heading north to the Penn State National Meet (Oct. 16th) and the Blue Hen Classic (Oct. 17th).

VCU will then take two weeks off to prepare for the CAA Championships, hosted this year by James Madison in Harrisonburg, Va. on Oct. 31st.

Based on performances from earlier in the season, the Black & Gold will then have a chance to run at the NCAA Southeast Regional on Nov. 14th in Louisville, Ky. and the ECAC Championships in the Bronx, N.Y. on Nov. 23rd.