Freshmen Harriers to Debut at Missouri Southern Stampede

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The third-ranked Arkansas cross country team will travel to Joplin, Mo., this weekend for the Missouri Southern Stampede. In addition to Arkansas, a total of 35 other schools will take to the trails for the 8K race at 9:45 a.m.

“This is a good 8K race to start with,” Arkansas head coach John McDonnell said. “We just started workouts, so the guys aren’t up to full speed. It will give us a good gage of where we are with training.”

Eleven Razorbacks will compete, including a pair of true freshmen, Chris Barnicle and Scott MacPherson. As two highly recruited prep athletes, from Newton, Mass., and Plano, Texas, respectively, they are ready to test their skills on a collegiate level.

The traveling squad will also be loaded with senior leadership from Said Ahmed, Luis Bordes, Jose Campos, Josh Robles and All-American Marc Rodrigues. Other Hogs set to run are juniors Adam Perkins and Seth Summerside and sophomores Jonathan Norris and Brian Roe.

Ahmed, Bordes, Campos and Norris each competed at the invitational last year, turning in solid performances and they are hoping to do the same in 2005. Summerside is a native of Joplin and is eager to run his first collegiate 8K race in his hometown. It will also be Roe’s first 8K as a Razorback.

UA easily won last year’s contest with 20 points, while then junior Josphat Boit captured top individual honors. Rodrigues was Arkansas’ next finisher in third. Results from the 2005 Stampede will be available on www.hogwired.com or http://www.mssu.edu/athletics.