Championship site moved to Country Campus
10/28/2015 2:22:00 PM | Cross Country
The site for the 2015 Southland Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country championships Friday, November 30, has been moved from Kate Barr-Ross Park in Huntsville to Country Campus Golf Course.
The conference office in conjunction with championship meet manager Greg Hinze, associate athletic director at host institution Sam Houston State University, made the decision to move the course to Country Campus due to the heavy rains in Huntsville during the weekend.
After hosting the UIL Regional high school cross country races Monday, the condition of the course has been deemed unusable. The combination of the bad weather and traffic on the course made it necessary to switch sites.
“We appreciate the willingness of the City to get the course at Kate Barr-Ross ready on such a short turnaround after the heavy rains last weekend,” Hinze said. “They have been a great partner, their park is the only facility that can accommodate the numbers associated with the UIL Regional and we look forward to returning there in the future.
“We very much appreciate Sam Dominie and his managers and Ernest and Donna at Country Campus Golf Course being willing to allow us to use their facility with virtually no advance notice. We literally walked into their offices Tuesday afternoon and started discussions about this so without them, this would not have been possible.”
To allow for a extra time in preparations for the races, the start times of the Southland Championships Friday has been moved back 30 minutes. The women's 6,000-meter championship will begin at 9 a.m. with the men's 8,000-meter race set to start at 10.
The course will be available for inspection/warm-ups from 4 to 6 p.m. on Thursday. The declaration/coaches meeting will remain at 7 p.m. at the SHSU Bowers Football Stadium Team Meeting Room.
“While we feel confident in our ability to turn this around on short notice and host this meet, we also want to urge some patience and understanding for all those involved with regard to some of the details regarding the championships,” Hinze said. “We have a lot to do in a very compressed time frame.”
Both championship races will air live on the Southland Conference Periscope account. Follow @SouthlandSports on Periscope or Twitter to be alerted when the broadcast begins. In addition, race highlights and interviews will be posted to the Southland Conference Digital Network, available via southland.org/watch and the Southland Conference app.
The 2015 NCAA Cross Country South Central Regional will be held Friday, Nov. 13, at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course in College Station, Texas. For those teams and individuals who qualify, the 2015 NCAA championships will be held Nov. 21, in Louisville, Kentucky.
