ORLANDO, Fla. - With a day between travel and the Walt Disney World Cross Country Classic, the Kennesaw State women’s cross country team took advantage of their extra day in Florida, traveling from Orlando to nearby De Land to get in a practice run at the course that will hold the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship on October 31st.

The 5k course is located at Sperling Sports Complex, about five miles north of Stetson University, who is hosting the championship. The course consists of two loops, which differ from one another and wind around the multi-purpose sports fields that make up the sprawling complex.

“It was really great for the runners to get a feel for the course today, to give them an idea of what to expect in three weeks,” assistant coach Dave Morgan said. “Obviously, the conditions they had today may not be the same during the race, but having some familiarity with the course can only help us.”

The conditions Morgan referred to included sunny skies and record-high temperatures in central Florida, which climbed to over 90 degrees at certain points on Friday. With the sandy surface of the course, wet conditions could result in a challenging outing, as the Owls are aware from their experience at Disney, which is run on a similar surface, when it rained during the meet in 2007.

“There’s a really positive energy among all of us going into this weekend,” senior Caitlin German said on Friday. “We got a good warm-up in today in De Land, and we’re looking forward to running tomorrow. The course that we ran today was very flat and sandy, I think we can all have some very good times on it. We’re very focused on running well tomorrow, first and foremost.”

The women’s race on Saturday morning will begin at 8:30 a.m. at Disney World’s Wide World of Sports.

To see the course maps for the Atlantic Sun Conference Cross Country Championships, visit http://www.atlanticsun.org/mcc/champdetails/