The Alabama cross country teams will begin their conference schedule this Saturday, Sept. 15 in the Commodore Classic in Nashville, Tenn. The men will participate in an 8,000 meter race that begins at 9:00 a.m., and their female counterparts will run 6,000 meters at 9:45 a.m.
This will be the first SEC test of the season for the Tide, but adding to that challenge, it will be their first road meet.
“The SEC is tough in anything,” Palee Myrex, a junior from Bremen, Ala., said. “Everybody is good.”
Prominent SEC schools will be represented at the invitational race. Georgia, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee and host school Vanderbilt will challenge the Tide’s young squad.
Nerves will be an issue the freshmen on the team will have to manage, but Myrex has noticed toughness and grit among her first-year teammates. Still, they will be introduced to an entirely new world once they arrive in the Music City.
“I remember my first big meet,” Myrex said. “It was a lot different than high school.”
Head coach Dan Waters is approaching the meet as a measuring tool to determine how far along his young roster is in their development.
“It’s the first opportunity our freshmen have to face SEC competition, so it’s a good measure of us for this early in the season,” Waters said. “With that in mind, our athletes have to approach it with the right attitude.”
Waters said that his freshmen chose to come to the Capstone because of the opportunity to compete against other elite athletes. He expects them to be ready and perform well against top competititors, an opportunity they will get in Nashville.
“I expect our team to be ready to compete and expect to be contenders,” Waters said. “We need to approach every competition with the mindset that we are going out there to win. I think that’s especially important for us now because of the youth of our team. If we are to reach the goals that we have in mind, we have to approach every competition with the right mindset.”
Sophomore Matt Joyner and Myrex finished as top performers in the Crimson Tide Kick Off, the team’s first meet of the season. With their experience and leadership, Joyner and Myrex will look to lead the Tide to victory in the Commodore Classic.
“We want to show up and have a good showing for the SEC,” Myrex said.
The races will take place at Vaughn’s Gap in Nashville’s Percy Warner Park. This course is considered to be one of the most scenic but challenging courses in the SEC. It will also serve as the running course for the conference championships later in the year.
