The Seattle University cross country team will stay close to home during the 2014 cross country regular season, competing in five meets within the Pacific Northwest before making trips to Texas and California for the championship season.
The team is scheduled to report to campus Thursday, Aug. 14, with its first official practice taking place the next day. The first competition of the 2014 campaign takes place two weeks later with the UW/SU Open Friday, Aug. 29, at Magnuson Park in Seattle.
The Redhawks continue to stay close to home for their next meet, the Sundodger Invitational hosted by the University of Washington at Lincoln Park in West Seattle Saturday, Sept. 20. The month of October begins for Seattle U with a meet hosted by Portland State University Saturday, Oct. 4.
The season really kicks into gear with the annual Emerald City Open at Lower Woodland Park Saturday, Oct. 18, followed by the Beaver Classic at Avery Park in Corvallis, Ore., currently set for Friday, Oct. 24. The results of those two meets will determine the nine male and nine female Redhawk competitors for the Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships, hosted by the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg, Texas, Saturday, Nov. 1.
The season concludes with the NCAA West Regional, this year hosted by Stanford University Friday, Nov. 14. Anybody who qualifies through the always-tough West region will head to Terre Haute, Ind., for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships Saturday, Nov. 22.
The Seattle University women’s cross country team is coming off a second place finish at last year’s WAC Championships, while the men’s squad finished fourth at the conference meet. All eight full members of the WAC in 2014-15 will field a women’s cross country team, and every school but CSU Bakersfield is expected to send a men’s squad to the conference championships.