MONROE, La. – The ULM cross country team opens the 2020 schedule Friday afternoon with the ULM Warhawk Invitational at NELSA/Chennault Park. The women's 5K race begins at 5:45 while the men's four-mile race follows at 6:30.
ULM will compete against Louisiana Tech and the Ragin' Cajuns.
On the men's side, senior Kevin Dietrich, freshman Reid Guirlando, sophomore Adrian Harris, senior Eric Hawkins, senior Logan Malone and sophomore Jaylen Wade will all compete for ULM. Guirlando and Malone will each race in their first meet.
Dietrich is running in his first cross country meet since the 2018 Sun Belt Championships. His best finish in the 2018 season was at the Mississippi College Invitational, where he placed 54th in 27:51.1.
Harris competed in all six races for the Warhawks in 2019. His best 8K time came at the Mississippi College Invitational, where he placed 103rd in 29:28.4. In his only four-mile race of the season, Harris placed 26th in 24:37.9 at the Louisiana Tech Mook 4 Invitational.
Hawkins also competed in all six races for ULM in 2019. His posted his career-best 8K time at the Mississippi College Invitational, placing 55th in 27:27.0. Friday's race marks the third four-mile race of his career. He completed the 2017 Mook 4 Invitational in 34th place in 23:52.9. Last season, he improved both his placing and his time at the Mook 4 to 14th place in 22:22.3.
Wade competed in three races as a freshman in 2019. He completed the Louisiana Tech Mook 4 Invitational in 22nd place in 23:42.4.
The women's side will feature freshman Eliana Battle, sophomore Kaye-Loni Bowden, senior Benadine Chelimo, sophomore Kirstin Elrod, senior Sharon Jerono and sophomore Trinity Walker for the Warhawks. Battle and Elrod will make their ULM cross country debuts.
Bowden ran in all six meets for ULM as a freshman in 2019. The Warhawk Invitational marks her third career meet at the 5K distance. She posted her best 5K time at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival at Arkansas, finishing in 20:36.4.
The Warhawk Invitational is the first official meet of Chelimo's ULM career. Last season, Chelimo competed as an unattached runner, winning the Mook 4 in 14:18.5 and the Mississippi College Invite, a 6K race, in 21:48.4.
Jerono returns after running in three meets in 2019. She posted a career-best 6K time of 23:50.0, good for 19th place, at the Mississippi College Invitational. Her best 5K time in 2019 came at the Chile Pepper Festival in 20:04.8. Her career-best 5K time came at the Mississippi College Invitational in 2018, where she placed sixth in 19:12.1.
Walker will compete in just the second race of her collegiate cross country career Friday. Last season, Walker placed 38th in 18:46.2 in the Mississippi College Season Opener, a 4K race.
The event also marks the first meet for new ULM cross country coach and assistant track and field coach David Silversmith. Silversmith joined the ULM staff in February after spending the previous two and a half seasons at UNC Greensboro, where he was the cross country coach and assistant track coach.
It is the first home cross country meet for ULM since the 2017 season.
