EVANSVILLE, Ind.—University of Southern Indiana Men's and Women's Cross Country return to action Friday morning when the Screaming Eagles toe the starting line at the Jacksonville State University Southern Showcase in Huntsville, Alabama.
 
The Screaming Eagles are coming off a dominate season-opener at the Stegemoller Twilight two weeks ago in which both teams cruised to first-place finishes at the USI Cross Country Course.
 
Junior Alex Nolan led USI's men with a first-place finish, while graduate transfer Dominick Beine was third in the 63-competitor field. Junior Isaac Stanford and sophomore Andrew Smith were fifth and seventh, respectively.
 
Nolan's six-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 46.0 seconds was 28 seconds faster than the second-place finisher at the Stegemoller Classic and was the fastest 6k time in a season-opener by a Screaming Eagle since Johnnie Guy clocked a time of 17:29.90 at the 2014 Stegemoller Classic.
 
Sophomore Hadessah Austin and junior Ellie Hall finished first and second, respectively, to pace the Screaming Eagles' women at the Stegemoller Twilight. Austin edged Hall by a 10th of a second as she finished the 4k race in 13:47.1. 
 
Both marks were the fastest 4k times in a season-opener by a Screaming Eagle in program history, edging out junior Zoe Seward, who posted a time of 13:47.7 as a freshman at the 2023 Stegemoller Classic.
 
USI placed seven runners in the top 11 of the 37-competitor field and 10 in the top 15. Sophomores Addison Applegate and Abrielle Richard were sixth and eight, respectively, while freshman Lilyanna Blais made her collegiate debut with a seventh-place showing.
 
The Southern Showcase begins with the men's 8k, which is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m., while the women's 5k is slated for an 8:30 a.m. start time. Meet information as well as live results can be accessed at USIScreamingEagles.com.