Due to the impending impact of Hurricane Florence, The University of Akron’s Cross-Country teams were unable to compete on Friday, Sept. 14 at the Virginia Tech Alumni Invitational.

According to Women’s Head Coach Trey Brokaw, who is in his first season with Akron, this change in plans did not affect preparations for the team; but could ultimately end up helping.

“Virginia Tech hosts a nice event but the uncertainty of the hurricane’s path and severity left us looking for better options,” Brokaw said.

The Zips relocated to Indiana State in order to compete at the John McNichols Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 15, at 9 a.m.

“Indiana State is a great alternative for us. They regularly host championship races there and later this season they will host the NCAA Great Lakes Regional competition,” Brokaw said. “It will be good for our athletes to see this course and gain valuable experience which will help them when we’re back for Regionals in November.”

Akron left the Invitational with the women tying for fourth and the men placing fifth: both out of 12 teams.

Mackenzie Andrews of Toowoomba, Australia led the women’s team with a time of 18:24.1, resulting in placing tenth. For the men’s team, Andre Bollam-Godbott of Brunswick, Ohio led with a time of 25:51, resulting in twentieth place.

“We definitely need to compete better in the middle of the race as we got strung out and finished fifth. The times today were on the slow side for everyone as the course ran slow,” men’s head coach Lee LaBadie said in a statement on GoZips.com.

The Zips will be hosting the All Ohio Cross-Country Championships on Sept. 29 at Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton, Ohio. The men’s 8K race will begin at 2 p.m. and the women’s 8K race will begin at 2:45 p.m.