MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama cross country men's and women's teams will open the 2016 season Friday afternoon when it hosts the Azalea City Classic held at The Grounds of Mobile.

Also scheduled to compete with the Jaguars this weekend are Alabama State, Tennessee Tech and Troy.  The women's 6K will begin at 5:15 p.m. (CDT) and then be followed by the men's 8K 30 minutes later.

After weeks of training South Alabama head coach David Barnett and both squads are ready to get the season underway.

"We are definitely excited to get the season started," Barnett said.  "It's been a long summer and everyone is ready to run against someone other than themselves.  We are looking forward to having the meet on our home course where we have the lay of the land so to speak."

The Jag women come into the 2016 season as the defending Sun Belt champs – its first league title since '93 – and were picked to repeat by the other 12 women's coaches last week with five first-place votes and 135 total points.

The South Alabama men also enter the season with high expectations as they were picked to finish third in last season's preseason poll.  Both teams have also earned regional recognition as they were selected 11th and 14th, respectively, in the South Region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (UTSFCCCA).

"It's definitely exciting to have a good preseason ranking, because that means you've done something good in the past, but it also means that you have something to do this year," Barnett said.  "We're excited about that because it means people have taken notice of what we've accomplished.  At the same time, we know we have a lot to do this year to live up to those rankings."

The Jag women have six returners from last season's squad led by sophomore runner Laura Labuschaigne and seniors Ashley Heitling and Nicole Durham who all finished in the top 10 at the league championship meet.  Fellow senior runner Ivy Chastain also finished in the top 20 at the event.  The USA women will also welcome two newcomers to this year's roster.

South Alabama's men – who placed third at the SBC Championships a year ago – return five runners and welcome five newcomers and five newcomers to the squad.  Among the returners for the men is senior runner Katleho Dyoyi who received all-Sun Belt recognition last fall.

Barnett is pleased with where both his teams are and has seen improvement during the offseason out of a lot of the group entering their first home meet.

"Our offseason workouts and fall workouts up to this point have gone well," Barnett said.  "I think some of the returners are definitely ahead of where they were at this time last year and the newcomers are getting the hang of things.  We are definitely going to have some freshmen that contribute this year."

The South Alabama men took home top honors at last season's Azalea City Classic with seven runners finishing in the top 10.  Of those, USA finished had the top four spots with Dyoyi coming in third with a time of 24:54.  The Jag women placed third as a team and had three of the top four runners at the meet led by Durham and Chastain who finished third (21:37) and fourth (21:53), respectively.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—