Eastern’s cross country teams kick off the year with its annual Walt Crawford Open in Charleston. This is one of the two home meets home meets they’ll be hosting on the Tom Woodall Trail.

The Panthers’ season opener will be Friday, Sept. 1, with women running first and the men follow to close the evening.

Eastern’s road trips will come in the following weeks in Peoria, Illinois. Bradley University will host two meets this year, the first starting Sept. 15. As Breast Cancer Awareness month rolls around Bradley will host their “Pink Classic” October 13.

The NCAA Championships will be held at Louisville this year on Nov. 18 and Eastern will have a chance to test out the course when they compete in a regular season meet Sept. 30.

But first, the Panthers will host this year’s Ohio Valley Conference Tournament and prepare for a trip to Iowa for the Midwest Regional Nov. 10.

After getting a glimpse of incoming runners at the state finals meet in May, Eastern’s cross country and distance coach Erin Howarth said, “The training this summer will be to fine tune and shape the incomers, but once the season comes around we’ll focus more on getting our runners to regionals.”

Coach Howarth also said how excited she is for the upcoming season and new faces, despite losing key competitors.

Camelia Nicholson can be reached at 581-2812 or cdnicholson@eiu.edu.