KENNESAW, Ga. - With just three weeks to go before the Atlantic Sun Conference Men’s Cross Country Championship, the Kennesaw State men’s cross country team embarks on an important trip this weekend, traveling to Orlando to compete in the Walt Disney World Cross Country Classic. The 8k meet will be the final one the men will participate in before the conference championship, which takes place on October 31st at Stetson University in DeLand, Fla.

The trip will serve two purposes for the squad. Getting to compete in a top-notch event, in which 40 teams from around the country will participate, will be a big plus for Stan Sims’ team, who did not race last week after starting off the season with meets on four consecutive weeks. However, being in central Florida will also afford the runners a chance to have a preview run on the course where the A-Sun Championship will be held.

“We’re really grateful to have the opportunity to run at Stetson prior to the conference meet,” Sims commented on Saturday. “We expect the Disney course to be very similar to it, since it will be sandy and be in similar conditions, but there’s nothing like actually getting the chance to run the course in advance.” Regarding the race this weekend, the Owls have an experienced group that knows what to expect out on the course. Scott Burley, Piotr Witczak, and Jaakko Nieminen all competed last year, and are looking forward to being back in Orlando.

“We’re all excited to be competing again after a two week break, and Disney is a great place to get back into racing,” said sophomore Jaakko Nieminen. “Myself and all of my teammates have really had a great attitude during training these past couple of weeks, really pushing ourselves. We’re all becoming more consistent with our times, which can only bode well for this race.”

Consistency and depth will be a key to the Owls’ success the rest of the way, as they have all performed well as a group and have seemingly had a different runner lead the way for them every week. There were solid performances from seniors Scott Burley and Michael Johnson in the RunFit Invitational, with Burley winning the A-Sun Runner of the Week award for his third place finish. Freshmen Nabil Hamid and Ryan Burruss have steadily improved, as well.

“We should be really competitive when it comes to racing at the conference meet,” said Burley, who finished 7th at Disney last season to lead the Owls. “What i’m really interested in finding out is how we stack up with some of the top teams in the [NCAA South] region. It takes a good pack of runners to do well at regionals, so all of us need to be at the top of our games over these next few weeks.”

The men start their race bright and early on Saturday, with the starting gun going off at 7:45 a.m.

Meet Quick Facts

Event Name: Walt Disney World Cross Country Classic

Event Date: Saturday, October 10th, 2009

Host: Walt Disney World

Location: Walt Disney World Wide World of Sports

Start Time: 7:45 a.m.(Eastern)

Distance: 8k

2008 Owl Finish: 4th

2008 Returning Owl Finishers: Scott Burley, 7th (25:44); Piotr Witczak, 35th (26:32); Jaakko Nieminen, 89th (27:39)

Schools Participating (41): Anderson (S.C.); Assumption; Baylor; Benedict; Bethune-Cookman; Blackstone Valley Voc/Tech; C.W. Post; Central Florida; Cocoa Beach; Conchita Espinosa Academy; Conn College; Cuyahoga CC; Flagler; Florida Atlantic; Florida College; Florida Int'l; Florida Southern; Florida Tech; Glynn Academy; IPFW; Johnson & Wales; Kennesaw State; Lackawanna College; Mercer; Methodist; Miami; Milligan; N.C. Central; Nova Southeastern; Paine; Palm Beach Atlantic; Saint Leo; Savannah Coll. of Art & Design; South Carolina-Beaufort; South Florida; St. Thomas; Texas A&M-Int'l; Warner; Webber; Wingate; Winston-Salem St.;