By Staff
The Niles High School boys and girls cross country teams will welcome 13 other schools to the campus of Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac Saturday morning for the Viking Stampede.
The invitational will be the season opener for both Niles squads and will begin with a coaches' meeting at 9 a.m.
The national anthem will be played at 9:50 a.m. followed by the boys' race at 10 a.m. and the girls' race at 10:45 a.m.
An awards ceremony will take place at 11:45 a.m. in the Zollar Sports Center.
Other teams competing on Saturday will include Benton Harbor Countryside Charter, Berrien Springs, Battle Creek Central, Dowagiac, Fort Wayne (Ind.) Northrop, Hartford, Lansing Everett, Marshall, Three Rivers, Mishawaka (Ind.), New Buffalo, Portage Northern and South Haven.
The Niles boys cross country team returns five runners from its successful team last season.
Logan Todd, Austin Neilson, Charles Nelson, George Nelson and Trevor Taylor each participated in cross country last season.
Newcomers to the Viking squad include Andrew Karsten, Josh Mann, Dan Geiger and Nick Schuck.
Rick Lott is the head coach.