A pair of home meets run on a newly designed course and a trip to Notre Dame highlight Georgia’s 2009 cross country schedule.

Georgia will open the season with a dual meet against Georgia Tech at the Bulldogs’ new course in Bishop, Ga., on Friday, Sept. 4. The Bulldogs swept the Yellow Jackets during their 2008 season opener, which was run at the UGA intramural fields.

“A lot of times the first meet of the cross country season doesn’t mean a lot but this one does since we are bringing Georgia Tech to campus,” cross country coach Jeff Pigg said. “It will be fun to face them again this year and it makes our opener exciting. The philosophy of both teams is to be good at the end of the year and this meet is a great way to get that process rolling.”

The Bulldogs return to action at home for the Georgia Cross Country Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 19. A variety of collegiate teams will race in both a men’s and women’s race following several high school competitions to start the day. During a similar meet that Georgia hosted in 2007, the Lady Bulldogs topped the collegiate field while the Georgia men finished as the runner-up.

This year’s home meets will be run on a newly designed course on property formerly know as High Point Farm in Bishop. Georgia’s new equestrian complex now calls the property home and Pigg, who is in his second year as the Bulldogs’ cross country coach, is eager for his team to make its debut on the course.

“The course has a couple nice, long rolling hills and wraps around the lake while most of it runs through the woods,” said Pigg. “As is with any course, it will get better and better with time. But we are excited to have a permanent home for our meets and we want these meets to continue to grow. I think competitors will be pleased with this course since it is what we call ‘rough country running.’”

Georgia had the opportunity to host meets at both the UGA golf course and the intramural fields over the last two seasons and Pigg expects the new course to be a “unique experience” for the visiting competition.

“It was nice to run on the golf course, but we worried about the damage to the course after the meet and we also wanted to be respectful of the conflicts that happen when sharing an area like that,” said Pigg. “This course will definitely not be like running on a manicured fairway. And it will have more of a cross country feel than running on the intramural fields. It should be a unique experience for all of the teams competing.”

Georgia’s first road trip will come on Friday, Oct. 2, as the teams travel to Indiana to match up with some of the nation’s premier programs at the Notre Dame Invitational. Pigg expects this meet to be solid preparation for the NCAA Pre-Nationals (Oct. 17) and NCAA Championships (Nov. 23), which are run in a similar climate in Terre Haute, Ind.

“The Notre Dame meet and Pre-Nationals are necessary for us to race against the nation’s top talent and also to get in position to grab an at-large spot at the NCAA Championships, if needed,” Pigg said. “The climate is always good for cross country competition at Notre Dame because I think the blast of cool air there and in Terre Haute invigorates our crew. It will be solid preparation for SECs and NCAA Regionals. Meets like this one help you see where you are.”

Georgia will meet its league competitors at the Southeastern Conference Championships in Oxford, Miss., on Saturday, Oct. 31, before traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for the NCAA Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 14. The 2009 season wraps up with the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind., on Monday, Nov. 23.

- Georgia Sports Communications