Event to be held on Nov. 8, 2014 on Gates Farm Championship Course

RINDGE, N.H. (February 1, 2013) -- Franklin Pierce University and its Department of Athletics is pleased to announce the school will be hosting the 2014 Northeast-10 Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships on the Gates Farm Championship Course in Rindge, N.H. The announcement was made recently by the league.

The event is scheduled to be held on November 8, with the men's race being an 8k event, while the women's competition will be a 5k race.

The championship course will begin and end on Franklin Pierce's upper grass field, while the middle portion of the race will loop around the woods and hills surrounding the Rindge campus.

"We are very excited to be hosting a prestigious meet such as the Northeast-10 Championship," head coach Zach Emerson said. "We are just one year into the enhancement of the men's and women's cross country programs at Franklin Pierce, and for the conference to believe that we are ready to host its championship, says a lot about the direction of the program and the high regard that people inside and outside the program have for it. The Gates Farm Championship Course will be one of the most challenging courses harriers will face all season and it will be great preparation for the upcoming NCAA regional and national championships."

Franklin Pierce's home course will get its first workout next fall when the Ravens play host to the inaugural Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup, which will be held on Friday, Sept. 6.

The announcement of Franklin Pierce hosting the 2014 conference championships is the latest in a long line of outstanding news for the cross country programs, dating back to the fall of 2011 when the school announced it was reviving the men's team and enhancing the women's squad.

Both the men's and women's teams competed during the fall 2012 season and produced outstanding results, including the men's squad being led by freshman thin clad Colton Ham (Webster, N.H.), who earned All-NE-10 and All-East Region honors by placing among the top-30 in both the conference and regional championships. The women's team was led by rookie Alyssa Lambert (Manchester, N.H.), who set the program record for fastest time in both the 5k and 6k. Both Ham and Lambert are slated to compete in the 2013 USATF Junior Cross Country National Championships this Saturday in St. Louis, Mo.

For more information on Franklin Pierce men's and women's cross country, please visit the teams' respective pages at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the programs even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce cross country apparel can do so on the athletic department's online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)