The University of Evansville cross country teams will travel to Peoria, Illinois on Saturday to take part in the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championships.  The championships will begin at 10:30 a.m. central time with the men’s 8-K race, while the women’s 5-K race will follow at 11:30.

On the men’s side, Evansville will be trying to build on its best State Farm MVC Championship finish of last year, as UE placed sixth in the men’s division.  UE will turn to junior Ryan Witters to set the pace for the Purple Aces, as the former Evansville Memorial High School standout has led UE in each of the Purple Aces’ six meets this season.  Witters is coming off of a fourth-place finish at the 2009 UE Invitational two weeks ago, and has posted four top 15 finishes so far this year.

“Ryan has had a great year so far, and he will likely be our pace-setter once again on Saturday,” said UE head coach Don Walters.  “The key for our team’s success though is for our next four runners to pack in right behind him.  We have had a gap of about 45 seconds to a minute between first and second place in some of our meets this year.  That can’t happen on Saturday.”

On the women’s side, UE will turn to a pair of freshmen and a pair of seniors to lead the way.  True freshmen Lauren Zeabart and Kepra McBrayer have teamed with seniors Arrena Svoboda and Courtney Heller this year to form UE’s top four.  They will likely be joined by either redshirt freshman Shelby Cron or junior Jaclyn Dippel on Saturday to form UE’s scoring pack.

“Just like on the men’s side, our packing on the women’s side is going to be key tomorrow,” said Walters.  “The Missouri Valley Conference is very tough this year, especially on the women’s side, so the tighter our packs can come across the finish line, the better off we will be.”

Following the State Farm MVC Championships, UE will have just one meet remaining on its 2009 cross country calendar.  That comes on Saturday, November 14 when UE travels to Bloomington, Indiana to take part in the 2009 NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships.