DENTON – The North Texas men’s and women’s cross country teams will open the 2015 campaign under the lights at the Bear Twilight Invitational Tuesday, Sept. 1 starting at 7 p.m.

The women’s 4k race will start at 7 p.m. with the men’s 6k race immediately following hosted by Baylor University.

“We have great team chemistry on both sides this year and all of our returners came back well ahead of where they were last year so I'm excited to have them see that in their race results on Tuesday,” head coach Stefanie Slekis said. “Cross Country is truly a pure team sport where you suffer alongside your teammates every day to accomplish your goals. I'm most excited about seeing our athletes really work together and push each other in races as well as training as we work towards winning two conference championships, heading off to NCAAs and hopefully making some North Texas history.”

The men’s team returns seven of its top eight runners from a year ago after winning the conference title last season and finished fourth at regionals. Senior Troy Taylor earned first team all-conference honors and finished ninth at the NCAA Division I South Central Regionals. He also qualified for nationals for the first time placing 147th.

“We are more physically fit than we were last year at this time but a couple of the returners who have really improved and should be on everyone's radar are Grady Frazier, James Coleman and Cody Campbell,” Slekis said. “The first meet is all about taking the rust off. My biggest goal for both teams is to really close the race well. All of our workouts so far we have worked on being progressive so I want to see our teams run in one or two big packs and really be able to progress through the race and close hard.”

The men’s squad has three newcomers who will be running for the first time in Ethan Davis, Michael Johnson and Kyle Maloney.

“Kyle Maloney has had some great workouts as well leading our newcomer group and I'm excited to see how he does over 6k in a race where he has the chance to run with our top guys since I have held him back a bit in workouts from running with our Top-8 returners,” Slekis added.

On the women’s side the team is looking to build on a solid third place finish at the conference championship last season and returns seven runners from last year. Junior Shauna Pali, from Dunedin, New Zealand, leads the team after finishing 15th in the conference championship last season. Adding to the mix will be three freshman in Cassidy Adams, Baylee Nelson and Catalina Uriate.

“One of the best surprises so far has been Baylee Nelson,” Slekis said. “She is a great talent having run 2:15 in the 800 meters and it has been exciting to see her really push herself in our strength oriented workouts right now which are quite the opposite of her favorite kind of training from high school. A few of the returners are way ahead of where they were last year at this time so also look out for Christina Moralez, Magdalena Escobar, Laura Cortez, and Kylee Kittrell.

Both teams were ranked inside the top ten in the regional preseason poll announced Monday. The men were selected third and the women opened in seventh position in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association’s (USTFCCCA) South Central poll.