WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's and women's cross country teams will be hosting their second home meet of the season on Friday, welcoming eight teams to the SMU Trails for the First Annual SMU No Limit Invitational.

General Information:
Date: Friday September 24, 2010
Women's Race/Time: 6K – 4:30 p.m.
Men's Race/Time: 8K – 5:15 p.m.

Teams Competing: SMU, Winona State, Viterbo, UW-Eau Claire, UW-La Crosse, UW-River Falls, Oregon State, Hamline and Wartburg

Course: Women – 6K; Men – 8K. Majority of course run on on-campus trails through the bluffs. Trails create a natural border of approximately 10 Meter average width for the course. Footing is equal to a golf course fairway and almost entirely grass with only a section of firm sand/gravel path about 40 Meters long. Spikes are usually the preferred race shoe, however flats are a great option too (except during rainy meets). Course maps can be found here

Course Markings: Course will be clearly marked with a combination of paint lines, cones, and flags. There will be mile and kilometer markings and hopefully I will have split readers at each mile.

Facilities: On campus locker rooms and restrooms will be available. Porta-Potties will be available near starting line; we ask that competing athletes have priority to these.

Athletic Trainers: Trainers will be on-site, please bring your own training supplies. We also have other modalities for athletes as needed. If you know that there will be a need for these, please inform us prior to travel if possible.

Awards: T-Shirts to top 13 finishers of each race.

Scoring: Scoring based on NCAA regulations with top 5 runners count towards team score, top 7 affect team scores all other runners scores removed.

Entry Fee: The max will be $50/gender or $10/athlete/team (up to 5, then it's becomes team rate) regardless of number of teams. Only athletes competing with a collegiate team will be allowed in each race. No open runners allowed.

Entry Process: Simply email wberndt@smumn.edu with your roster including the athletes year. An excel spreadsheet is preferred, but we can work with whichever file you send.

Parking: Buses and van can park on Saint Yon's Valley Road which will be open by 2:00 on Friday. Athletes can be dropped off next to the start, however it is a tight turnaround for buses, so we are requesting that buses remain on Yon's Valley Road for pick-up. Spectator parking can either be on the road or on upper campus with space available in the Visitor parking lot or Yellow Lot. Campus map can be found here.

Coaches Opinion: It is a very beautiful and fun course to compete on and a great alternative to golf courses. It is not a PR course, but we are setting the course up so that it is not a course that is overly hard on the athlete, specifically during that time of year. For those who have not been here for a couple years, the course has been greatly improved in footing, view-ability, and athlete friendliness.

Questions: Contact Ward Berndt at wberndt@smumn.edu or 507-313-1321