By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES - The 2005 cross country season is well under way today with the third annual Viking Stampede being held at Southwestern Michigan College.
The meet will kick off with the national anthem at 9:50 a.m.
The boy's race will begin at 10 a.m. with the girl's race scheduled to begin at 10:45 a.m.
Competing in this year's event along with the Vikings will be Dowagiac, Marshall, Mishawaka (Ind.), Three Rivers, Fort Wayne Concordia (Ind.), Michigan City (Ind.), Otsego, Fort Wayne Northrop, Northridge, Lakeshore and Portage Northern.
Lott believes his team has the capability to do very well this year, despite a few key injuries, one being his top runner.
The team is also pretty young this year and Lott admits that the expectations aren't too high, but he still believes his team can do very well in the division.
Lott returns five runners from last year's team and only lost two seniors, Logan Todd and Austin Neilson.
But before Lott looks further into the season, he has to get by the Stampede today.
The top two teams in today's event will be awarded trophies, while the top 10 freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors will all receive medals, both boys and girls.
The top seven runners from each squad will also be awarded T-shirts.
After today's meet, the Vikings will travel to the Kalamazoo Central Invitational on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.