Nashville, Tenn. - The Austin State university men's and women's cross country team took a short trip down I-24 to Nashville for the Pretorious Invitational at Percy Warner Park on Saturday Sept. 16th. The men raced at 8:30 CT after a delay, and the women followed at 9:30. Their results provided a bit of sunshine on a rainy saturday morning.

The race was a preview of the same course the Atlantic Sun conference championships will be at on October 28. There were three other ASUN teams racing with the Govs, in Jacksonville, Lipscomb, and Central Arkansas.

"We had a conservative race plan today, and they executed it exceptionally." said assitant coach Kendall Muhammad "Six weeks till the conference meet on the same course, we'll continue training hard and show up race ready when it counts."

The women's team placed sixth out of eight teams in Nashville. Ashley Doyle (19:40.0, ) lead the squad for a second straight meet, and four of the top five ladies improved their time from Ball State. Doyle was followed by Mary Kate French (20:22.4), Savannah Fruth (20:36.5), Shaye Foster, (21:01.9) and Hallie Mattingly (21:02.8)

The men's team also placed sixth out of eight teams in the invitational. This was the first 8k of the year the team has run. Jackson Fowler led the way again with a time of 27:39.3 (44th). He was followed by Jake Strader (28:19.6, 53rd), Jacob Schweigardt (28:24.6. 54th), Ryan Coley (28:33.7, 55th), and Lucas Bales (29:13.1, 63rd)

The Govs' will return to action in two weeks Sept. 30, when they head to Louisville, Kentucky for the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic.