CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Running Mocs will head to Cookeville Friday afternoon for the Golden Eagle Invitational hosted by Tennessee Tech at the Putnam County Sports Complex.

The meet will start off with the women's 5-kilometer race at 4:00 p.m. Eastern time followed by the men's 8K at approximately 4:45 p.m.

This will be the final tuneup for the Mocs before the Souyhern Conference Championships in two weeks. 

"We are looking forward to running and competing Friday," Mocs head coach Andy Meyer said. "They have a new course with a couple challenging hills that will test our fitness."

The Mocs are coming off strong performances two weeks ago at the Live in Lou Cross Country Classic two weeks ago. Nine runners set career highs in the historically fast race.

"We have a few kids banged up," Meyer said. "But everyone does at this time of the season. We are running a limited roster on the women's side. The men are a little healthier..

"This is our last tune up race before the conference meet so we will be working on a few weaknesses. Some of the kids will be running for a travel spot to go to the conference meet."

The Golden Eagle Invitational consists of host Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay, SoCon foe ETSU, Lane College, Murray State, Southeast Missouri  and Tennessee State. 

"We've been working hard since Louisville and will be looking forward to dialing in some of our race pacing and strategy at this meet," Meyer concluded.