Sept. 22, 2006

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The Lamar University men's cross country team, as well as three athletes from the women's team will take on a strong field at the 21st Annual Roy Girak Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.

The men's team, along with Renee Graham, Amanda King and Clerc Koenck from the women's team will face some of the top competition in the country in their first action in two weeks. The men's gold division race will begin at 11:20 a.m., with the Jack Johnson Women's Gold Competition starting at 12:10 p.m.

"We are going to this meet to expose our athletes to a national level of competition," head track coach Trey Clark said. "We had some opportunities closer to home that are very good meets, but this is on the scale of the NCAA championship meet. It gives our guys a chance to gauge themselves against some of the top competition in the country.

The Cardinals, who won the Rice Invitational two weeks ago in Houston, will look to improve upon their performance, as they take on a field of 37 other schools. Schools participating in the men's gold division are Air Force, Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Bowling Green, Bradley, Butler, Colorado State, Cornell, Delaware, Drake, Eastern Washington, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Lamar, Liberty, Loyola, Marquette, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Navy, Nebraska, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma, Princeton, South Dakota State, Southern Utah, UCLA, Utah Valley State, Virginia, Wichita State, Wisconsin and Xaiver.

"We are looking to go up there and have our guys challenge themselves," Clark said. "Having them accept the challenge in front of them and seeing how they compete is important. You always want to see how your runners will react when running against the best competition in the country."

The three Lady Cardinals competing will also face a solid field of teams. Teams participating in the Jack Johnson Gold Competition are Air Force, Arizona State, Arizona, Baylor, Bowling Green, Bradley, Butler, Delaware, Drake, Eastern Washington, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Lamar, Liberty, Loyola, Marquette, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northern Arizona, Oklahoma, Rice, South Dakota State, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Utah Valley State, Virginia, Wichita State and Xaiver.

"These three women have all competed on the regional or national level, and the more they compete at this level, the better they will perform on the big stage," Clark said. "Just getting them more exposure to the national level will really help them in the long run."