Clemson, S.C. – The Clemson Tigers cross country team and Head Coach Vicky Pounds announced their schedule for the 2019 season on Friday. The schedule features five regular-season meets and up to three post-season meets. The 2019 season will see the team return to two regular season contests from last year’s campaign. This will be the team’s first season under the direction Pounds, who joined the program in late July after working at the University of Montana for seven years.
“The goal for me is to place higher at the meets than we did last year, especially at the ACC conference meet. It’s a building process and I will always want to be winning championships,” said Pounds. “I am really big in to the idea of the ‘power of the pack’ and any time you can get a group of athletes racing together and training together, it is a great opportunity to practice this.”
The Tigers will begin their season at the Carolina Challenge in Columbia, South Carolina, on Aug. 31. This meet will see both squads compete at the 5K distance. After three weeks of training, Clemson is slated to travel to Blacksburg, Virginia, to compete at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational on Sept. 20. This meet will serve as a preview of the courses the teams will face at the ACC Championships later in the season.
Track & Field Head Coach, Mark Elliott, spoke on the early part of the season by saying,
“The first race of the season is us trying to figure out where our kids are. With the ACC Championship being at Virginia Tech, this meet gives our athletes a chance to run the course, race the course and see where we are.”
Clemson kicks off the month of October with a trip to South Bend, Indiana, for the Joe Piane – Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4. Last year, this meet saw eight women and six men earn personal bests at the five-kilometer and five-mile distances, respectively. The regular season comes to an end at two meets, with members of the team competing in Kernersville, North Carolina, on Oct. 18 at the Vertcross Invitational and select athletes traveling to the Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Oct. 19. The last time the Tigers competed in Kernersville was in 2013 at the Wake Forest Invitational.
Two weeks later, the team travels back to Blacksburg, Virginia, to start their post-season at the ACC Championships on Nov. 1. Another two-week layoff follows, with the NCAA Southeast Regional competition occurring at Panorama Farms, the home course for the University of Virginia on Nov. 15. The regional meet will mark the first 10K for the men during the 2019 campaign.
The Clemson Tigers who qualify for the NCAA Championships will take to Terre Haute, Indiana on Nov. 23. Direct qualification for the meet occurs at the regional competition, while at-large bids are awarded to athletes who do not earn automatic qualification from their regional meet based on their performances throughout the season.
For complete coverage of the Tiger track & field team, follow @ClemsonTrackXC on Twitter and Instagram, and ‘Clemson University Track & Field’ on Facebook.
