June 19, 2008

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest will host the 2008 NCAA Southeast Cross Country Regionals, as announced by head coach Annie Bennett on Thursday. The Demon Deacons will host their first-ever NCAA cross country event on Nov. 15 at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, N.C.

"Wake Forest and our event management staff in the athletic department do such a fantastic job. We have hosted a conference track meet and a conference cross country meet here, so the requests have just hit me over and over to host this NCAA Southeast Regional for cross country," said Bennett, who coaches both the Deacon men's and women's cross country teams. "Since we take such pride and do such a good job, I'm really excited to host. The last two years the regional meet has been in Louisville, Kentucky, and they have done a great job. But it's great bringing it here to North Carolina. We have a lot of local teams, and it will be a little more centrally-located here."

The regional meet is no stranger to the state of North Carolina. From 2002-05, the event was hosted by East Carolina University at Lake Kristi in Greenville, N.C. For each of the past two seasons, the University of Louisville (Ky.) has hosted the event.

Wake Forest will be hosting its first cross country postseason event since putting on the 2003 ACC Championships on campus. The Deacons will host the 2008 Regionals at Tanglewood Park in nearby Clemmons.

Tanglewood, which is widely-regarded as the premier publicly-owned park in the state of North Carolina, will be witnessing its first-ever championship cross country event. The races will wind several loops through the park, as the men will run traverse a 10k course and the women a 6k.

"I'm excited about the course," said Bennett. "We're going to do a 4k loop and a 2k loop for the women and then for the men we'll do two 4k loops and a 2k loop. It's a course my staff and I designed. It is just a flat grass course, but grass can bring a lot of obstacles. There will be some holes and some footing issues here and there. It's a great course, and it will be very spectator-friendly."

Wake Forest will welcome in no less than 38 teams and approximately 300 student-athletes to compete in the event.

The women's race is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., followed by the men's race at 12 p.m.

The host hotel for the event is the Village Inn Golf and Conference Center in Clemmons. The official NCAA Southeast Regionals website, with further information for competitors and spectators, will be online later this summer.