Oct. 13, 2011

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky cross country teams close out the 2011 regular season on Friday in Charlottesville, Va., at the Panorama Farms Invitational.

The men’s team will be competing on an 8,000-meter course at 4:00 p.m. ET, while the women’s team will run a 6K at 4:45 p.m. It is the first 6K race the women have run this season and should prepare the Wildcats well for the Southeastern Conference Championship meet on Oct. 31 in Maryville, Tenn.

Competing in the third Panorama Farms Invitational, in addition to the Wildcats, is Duke, East Carolina, Georgetown, Liberty, Norfolk State, UNC-Greensboro, North Florida, Richmond, South Florida, Virginia Commonwealth and Virginia, the host of the meet.

The men’s cross country team enters the Panorama Farms Invitational coming off an eighth-place finish at the Greater Louisville Invitational. Junior Luis Orta has led Kentucky all year, ranking second in the SEC in the 8K with a time of 24:17.72. Orta has been named SEC Men’s Runner of the Week three times already this year, and won the Belmont-VU Opener and the Tennessee Invitational.

The women’s cross country team comes in after finishing in 18th at the Greater Louisville Invitational. The women have been led by junior Chelsea Oswald throughout the season, including 11th- and second-place overall finishes at the Belmont-VU Opener and Tennessee Invitational, respectively. Kentucky, as a team, finished in third and first at those two meets, respectively.

The Panorama Farms Invitational hosts an impressive field, including six teams that were victorious at their respective conference championship meets in 2010, and five teams that competed at the 2010 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

For more news and information on the Kentucky cross country teams, including results from the Panorama Farms Invitational, go to UKAthletics.com.