Oct. 12, 2006

Fayetteville, Ark. - The Baylor cross country team returns from a three-week break as the Bears travel to compete in the Chili Pepper Festival on Saturday, Oct. 14. The men will compete in a 10,000-meter race at 9:45 a.m. with the women's race scheduled for 6,000-meters to follow at 10:30 a.m. Runners from 85 different college teams will be competing at the event.

The Baylor women enter the meet after a strong showing at the Roy Griak Invitational. Freshman Nichole Jones finished 16th overall to lead the Bears to a third place finish. This week the women will be without their top runner, sophomore Erin Bedell, who is recovering after feeling "under the weather" recently.

"The women have been off for three weeks now and we've just been through our toughest two weeks of training," head coach Todd Harbour said. "I think the ladies are just ready to be back in a race. This is a fast course with a lot of great teams, so we can get a good idea of how good we can be. Without Erin this week, we're really going to see if our depth is as good as we think it is."

On the men's side, the Bears finished 21st with Senior Rob Morrow leading the Bears finishing 30th. Morrow earned Big 12 Conference Runner of the Week honors for his performance at the meet.

"The guys are excited to see where they're at and how they stand nationally," Harbour said. "Bo's (Price) getting back and Cody's (Wells) is getting there. The men's team is rounding into shape, because of the way the younger guys have stepped up."

The Baylor women finished 3rd last year at the Chili Pepper Festival while the men finished 20th. Senior Brittany Brockman finished second overall to lead the women.

The Bears return to action Fri., Oct. 27, at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Lawrence, Kan.