ORONO, Maine - The University of Maine cross country program gets their 2019 season started this Friday, competing against Army West Point at Saxl Park in Bangor, Maine.

The Black Bears will lead the season off with a battle against the Black Knights on opening day for the fifth consecutive season, a matchup that Army has controlled with wins in all four previous matchups. 

Head Coach Mark Lech returns to lead the Black Bears in his 15^th season at the helm, a year after the men finished seventh at the America East Championships and the women placed ninth overall. 

The men's squad will be led by two seniors and Scarborough, Maine natives, as Colin Tardiff and Jacob Terry return for their final season as Black Bears. The two will be joined by juniors Andrew Levesque and Ethan Orach and sophomores Travis Nickerson, James Olivier, and Liam Willey who all look to build on the positives of the 2018 season. New faces in the freshman class include Sam Mils, Luke Marsanskis, David Perry, Caleb Streinz, and Alec Troxell who will all look to get their Maine careers off to a hot start in Bangor on Friday morning. 

On the women's side, the senior class of Eliza Bennett, Kate Macolini, Erin Magnuson, Elisabeth Redwood, Alison Wyman, and Sierra Yost look to lead the 2019 roster to new heights this year. With eight other returners, the deep Black Bears team will add on six freshmen in the form of Christina Carboni, Kristina Littlehales, Kayla Raymond, Natalie Robinson, MaKayla St. Onge, and Mackenzie Young. 

The action begins on Friday morning at 10:30 AM, after which both the Maine teams will travel to Hanover, N.H. to participate in the Dartmouth College hosted Sanchez Southern Invitational on Saturday, September 7th.