EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - Men's and women's cross country are set to open their season with the Southeast Missouri Redhawk Invitational.
 
Meeting the squads
Men's cross country welcomes four freshman, Aaron Conderman, Wyatt Doyle, Reece Wolf and Nate Wright. They also added graduate student Ian O'laughlin who was previously at Bradley.
 
Women's cross Country has three new additions including senior transfer Christy Muldrew and two freshman Kinze Shea and Kaylee Sprague.
 
Runners to watch
Tanner Emerson and Kenzie Shea were named to the OVC Runners to watch list released by the conference Wednesday morning. Each school in the OVC had coaches pick two athletes for the list. Shea is a transfer from Western Illinois. While Emerson is a returning sophomore for the Cougars. Last season Emerson ran a PR 8k at the Gans Creek Classic (25:42) and a PR at the NCAA DI Midwest Region Championships (32:09.2)
 
The Course
The race will be a 5k for both the races, taking place on the Osage Centre fields. It has a 2300m and 1609m loop, along with Start-Finish distances. There are two smaller hills in the woods on the 2300m loop, the 1609m loop is flat and fast.
 
The Competition
The Redhawk Invitational will field 11 teams competing. OVC schools competing in the meet include Eastern Illinois, Lindenwood, SEMO and UT-Martin.