It may not have a catchy nickname like The Swamp or a capacity crowd of 90,000 plus, but the Mark Bostick Golf Course has still proved to be a dominating venue for the Gators’ cross country program.
For the past five years, both the men’s and women’s teams have won their first meet of the season on the course. On Saturday at 8 a.m., they look to extend that streak at the 22nd annual Mountain Dew Invitational. The women will run a 5K followed by the men’s 8K at 8:30 a.m.
As with its gridiron peers, the initial win of the season for the cross country team usually comes at the expense of lesser, unranked competition. Of the 19 teams traveling to Gainesville this weekend, all of whom are Florida schools, none are nationally ranked or have received votes in the men’s or women’s Division-I polls.
“It’s a big meet and then it’s our first competition,” UF cross country coach Todd Morgan said. “But it’s definitely kind of an icebreaker for us. Kind of our Miami (Ohio) game.”
The UF women’s team is currently ranked eighth in the nation and was picked by Southeastern Conference coaches to defend their league title this year. The men’s team starts the season ranked 37th and were picked to finish third in the SEC.
Other than the Gators’ advantage on paper is the fact they are able to run the course during the offseason. They can learn the lay of the course’s grassy, rolling hills and better distinguish any strategic advantages.
This weekend’s visiting teams will not have the same luxury. According to the pre-race rules outlined in the invitational’s info packet, any member of a team caught running the course Friday or before 6:30 a.m. warm-ups on Saturday will not be allowed to race.
“We train there about when practice starts,” Morgan said. “We do some quality sessions there in the mornings. So they’re very familiar with it.”
With five top-10 finishers returning from a year ago, the women’s team, led by junior Charlotte Browning, winner of the 5K last year, looks to continue its success as a team first.
“I think it is just important to get in the feel of racing again,” Browning said. “We normally tempo it for the first two miles and see how we feel from there. But I think it’s just important to get a feel as a team.”
The men’s team echoes the same team mentality, according to junior Josh Izewski. But individually, Izewski said he has stepped up his training to improve on his 15th place finish from last year and get back to his previous form of 2008 when he finished fourth and was then named SEC Freshman of the Week.
“Last year I came in out of shape and not expecting as many guys and teams to do as well,” Izewski said. “I’ve been doing a lot more miles. Last year I was doing 70 miles a week and now I’m doing 100 or more in certain weeks.”
The invitational will be the lone opportunity for the Gators to run in front of a home crowd this season. In order to face tougher competition before the SEC and NCAA Championships, both teams will travel to Wisconsin and Indiana in October.
“Obviously, it’s our home meet, and we want to represent,” Browning said. “It’s so nice to have such a great crowd to come and support us. It’s such a fun race to do.”
