Northern Kentucky University Athletics

Men's roster | Women's roster

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Northern Kentucky University cross country teams begin the season Saturday by competing in the Queen City Invitational, which will be held at Voice of America Park in West Chester, Ohio.

The men's race starts at 10 a.m., followed by the women at 10:45 a.m.

A year ago, the NKU women's team placed four runners in the top 10 finishers to capture third-place honors in the overall competition of the Queen City Invitational. NKU finished with a team score of 50, just two points behind Xavier (48) and Cincinnati (48) in the overall competition at the Mt. Airy Forest. Jerrica Maddox, who took sixth place by completing the course in 19:32, led the Norse.

"What our women's team lacks in quantity, we more than make up for in quality and enthusiasm," NKU head coach Steve Kruse said. "This is a fun group of young ladies who care greatly about the team's performance, and they have worked very hard over the summer to insure that we improve our team finish at every race we attend this year. Though we miss dearly the senior class of last year, we are ready to make some new mile markers of our own in 2010."

In the men's race last year, NKU's Drew Harris posted a third-place finish in the overall competition of the Queen City Invitational with a time of 15:34. University of Cincinnati runner Eric Finan captured first-place honors by completing the five-kilometer race in 15:16. Xavier's Tommy Kauffmann finished second with a time of 15:27, followed by Harris.

Harris helped NKU finish fifth in the overall team standings with a score of 131. Xavier won the team competition with a score of 37, followed by Cincinnati (56), Cedarville (85), Bellarmine (93) and NKU to round out the top five squads.

NKU's Eric Dwyer posted an 18th-place finish with a time of 16:19, while teammate Justin McIntyre was 34th in a time of 16:53.

"Our men's team will be greatly improved in depth and general competitiveness," Kruse said. "Many non-traditional newcomers are anxious to establish themselves on the team and are working very hard to make themselves and the team much better."