Cross Country Schedule Released For 2023 Season

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer cross country team announced its 2023 schedule, which includes one home meet on September 16 and a nationally competitive race at Lehigh University at the end of September.

"This fall is shaping up to be our best yet with the new Bears we have added and the return of a talented group overall," said head coach Josh Hayman. "In 2023, we are looking forward to continuing the growth that our program has had over the past couple of seasons while maintaining a similar schedule to this past year.

I expect that our experience on these courses will prepare us well for handling the high level of competition we will be going against."

Mercer opens its season at Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina on September 1 in the Firetower Project Run.

The Bears will then host the Julius Johnson/MGA Invitational at the Georgia Premier Cross Country Course on September 16 in Macon, Georgia.

A trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for the Paul Short Run on September 30 follows. The race will feature teams nationwide competing in what will be the 49^th time the event will be held at Lehigh University. "One change to our schedule and challenge we are looking forward to is going out of the region to the historic Paul Short run to get some national-caliber competitive experience," said coach Hayman.

Mercer will race in its last regular season meet before the SoCon Championships on October 14 at the USC Upstate Invitational.

The Southern Conference Championships are scheduled for October 27 in Kernersville, North Carolina.

The NCAA South Region Championships will be held in Gainesville, Florida on November 10, followed by the NCAA National Championships on November 18 hosted by the University of Virginia.

Both squads are looking to build off last season's results which saw the men finish in third place at the SoCon Championships where they ran a new school record team average time of 25:14.

Former Mercer student-athlete and current Mercer assistant coach Vlad Zander-Velloso earned First Team All-Conference, the program's first All-Conference honoree. Josh Karver, Chinmay Dongari, Yianni Potholaukis, and Sebathian Rodriguez all set personal records at the championship.

The women's team finished in sixth place, tying a program best finish at the SoCon Championships. Giulia Giorgi and Allie Brown set personal records at the meet. The team also won the USC Upstate Invitational by recording the fastest 5K time ever at the Miliken course and third fastest in school history.

The Bears welcome seven newcomers to the men's and women's cross country teams this season. Three new student-athletes join the men's team, meanwhile the women's team welcomes four newcomers. The Bears are expecting to continue the trend of record setting seasons with a talented returning core group and one of coach Hayman's strongest recruiting classes yet.

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Cross Country Schedule Released For 2023 Season

Players Mentioned

Allie Brown

Chinmay Dongari

Giulia Giorgi

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