MACON, Ga. –The Mercer men’s and women’s cross country teams both have high expectations for the 2005 season.

The men’s team has six returning runners from last season and three of its top five back. Daniel Tanui is the top returning runner, while Stephen Vyxbe and Jason Morgan round out the top returnees.

Mercer welcomes the addition of local freshman phenom Chad Bacon of First Presbyterian Day School and fellow newcomer Christian Lopez of El Paso, Texas to this year’s squad.

“We are almost done rebuilding our team and hope to get back to where we were in 2003 which was the fastest Mercer men’s team to date,

BUIES CREEK, N.C. –The Mercer men’s and women’s cross country teams head to Buies Creek on Saturday for the Conference Preview.

This meet will mark the beginning of the 2005 season and contains other conference schools including Campbell and Gardner-Webb. UNC-Wilmington and Winthrop will round out the field at the Conference Preview.

The Bears hope to prove that the recent Atlantic Sun preseason polls are no indication of how they are capable of performing.

The Mercer men’s team received 36 points and is predicted to finish in ninth place. The Bears women’s team came in 10th place while receiving 35 points. Belmont came in first place in both the men’s (117 points) and women’s (116) polls.

The men’s side has Kennesaw State (94 points) slated for second place followed up by one of Mercer’s opponents this weekend, Campbell (91), in third. Conference newcomers East Tennessee State (87) and North Florida (84) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Rounding out the polls is Gardner-Webb in sixth position, followed by Lipscomb, Florida Atlantic, Mercer, Jacksonville, and Stetson.

Florida Atlantic received 102 points to come in second place in the women’s preseason polls and Conference Preview host, Campbell finished third receiving 94 points. The next three positions in the polls are filled by schools making their first appearances in the Atlantic Sun. Kennesaw State (81), North Florida (68) and East Tennessee State (59) round out the newcomers this season. Jacksonville, Lipscomb, Gardner-Webb, Mercer, and Stetson round out this preseason’s polls.

The Bears return to action next weekend when they host the Mercer Invitational in Atlanta which will be held on Saturday, September 10.

BUIES CREEK, N.C. –The Mercer men’s cross country team placed fourth at the Campbell University Early Bird XC Invitational on Saturday morning.

Winthrop won the 5K events by scoring 23 points and Atlantic Sun Conference opponents took the next two spots with Campbell finishing in second with 51 points and Gardner-Webb placing third with a score of 94. Mercer followed with 104 points and UNC-Wilmington rounded out the field scoring 110 points.

Junior Daniel Tanui led the Bears with a tenth place finish and a time of 16:36. Stephen Byxbe (17:07) finished in 20th place for Mercer and Macon native Chad Bacon (17:17) came in 22nd place in his first meet as a Bear. Other times for Mercer were Christian Lopez (17:57), Louis Evans (18:17), Eliot Sumner (18:29), Jason Morgan (18:59) and Clay Jones (19:05).

Mercer will be back in action next Saturday when they host the Mercer Invitational in Atlanta.

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BUIES CREEK, N.C. –The Mercer women’s cross country team got their season off to a solid start at the Campbell University Early Bird XC Invitational. The Bears finished third at Saturday morning’s season opening event.

Campbell won the 4K event scoring 26 points as Alicia Valtin set a course record with a time of 14:22. Winthrop finished second with 57 points followed by the Bears. UNC-Wilmington scored 94 points in their fourth place finish and fellow conference foe Gardner-Webb rounded out the field with 104 points.

Mercer place five runners in the top 20 and were led by sophomore Deborah Jones (15:42) and her eighth place finish. Sophomore Brittany Clark (15:56) finished twelfth and freshman Valerie Detrick (16:06) followed her in 13th place. Caroline Miller (16:21) and Elisabeth Orendorff (16:30) also finished in the top 20.

Rounding out the Bears finishers was Jamila Young (17:49) and Brittany Wheeler (19:35).

“I am pleased with where we are this early and we still have more room for improvement,

MACON, Ga. –Mercer is set to host a 17-team cross country invitational on Saturday morning in Atlanta.

The men will be competing in a 5K event in which there will be 147 competitors. On the women’s side, 119 runners will compete in a 4K run at the Mercer-Atlanta course.

Schools that will be participating in the event are Fort Valley State, Oglethorpe University, Andrew College, Kennesaw State, Georgia Tech, Gordon College, Georgia Southern, Georgia Military College, Clayton State, Valdosta State, Middle Georgia College, West Georgia, Clark-Atlanta University, Reinhardt, North Georgia University, Truett McConnell and host Mercer.

The Mercer women will look to continue strong with the momentum gained from last weekend’s Conference Preview. The Bears had five top-20 finishers and place 3rd in the five team event. Deborah Jones led the way for Mercer with an eighth place finish.

The men’s team looks to better their performance from last Saturday’s fourth place finish at the Conference Preview. Daniel Tanui led the Bears coming in tenth place.

The Mercer Invitational is slated to begin at 9 a.m.

ATLANTA, Ga. –Mercer’s men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the Mercer-Atlanta invitational Saturday morning.

Mercer’s women’s squad finished third out of fifteen teams with 110 points and the men’s team placed sixth out of sixteen teams scoring 145 points.

Kennesaw State (23) won the men’s portion of the event and Georgia Tech finished second with 44 points. The Yellow Jackets and Owls switched places on the women’s side as Georgia Tech (35) finished first and Kennesaw State (39) finished second.

Deborah Jones led the Lady Bears finishing in 20th place with a time of 14:16. Caroline Miller (14:17) and Valerie Detrick (14:18) also turned in solid performances for the Bears finishing 22nd and 23rd, respectively. Rounding out the Mercer women’s team were Libby Orendorff (14:38), Brittany Clark (14:41), Jamila Young (15:40) and Brittany Wheeler (17:06).

“I think our team is coming together,

MACON, Ga. –Mercer University has been designated the host for the Georgia Collegiate Championships for the first time in school history.

The Georgia Collegiate Championships, also known as the Mercer Invitational, is scheduled for Saturday, October 1 at 9 a.m.

There will more than two dozen teams from the state of Georgia competing as well as a number of out of state squads.

This event will also feature a high school division. The meet is unique in that both the Georgia public high schools (GHSA) and the Georgia private high schools (GISA/other) will compete on the same day and on the same course for the first time in the history of Georgia high school cross country.

The meet is scheduled to take place at the Georgia Children’s Home on Mumford Road in Macon, Ga.