The Freed-Hardeman cross country teams will start their season this Saturday, August 30, in Memphis, Tenn., at the City Auto Memphis Twilight XC Classic and will continue their season until November. The teams will look to have their best season to date, with a lot of experienced runners coming back to compete on the course. 

Memphis Twilight has become the annual "rust-buster" for the cross country teams and usually involves some high-caliber teams. The men's team will compete in a 4-mile race, compared to their normal 8k, and the women's team will race a 5k.

The men's team returns three of their top five finishers and seven of their top ten finishers from last season's final race at the conference championship. Seniors Bo Scott and Blake Brown will look to have a strong finish of their careers as Lions, where they have been staples and top finishers on the team for the past three seasons. Juniors Daniel Puckett and Barrett Poe will also look to continue their improvements from last season. Both runners finished in the top-15 at the conference championship race, earning Second-Team All Conference Honors, and qualifying for the NAIA National Championships.

The women's team is coming off back-to-back conference championship runner-up finishes, and they return three of their top five finishers, including Mary Pearce, who finished ninth at the conference championship and also qualified for the NAIA National Championship race. Eliza Poe and Megan Lampley are entering their senior seasons together, and Poe is returning after just finishing 12th at the conference championship last season. Both Poe and Lampley have been top-five runners for the women's team ever since their freshman year. The women's team is bringing back five of their runners from last season, and brings in a couple of freshmen looking to contribute. Together, they will look to have another strong season and capitalize on their season finale last year.

Memphis Twilight will start at 5:30 with the middle school races, and the night will include middle school, high school, and college races. The women's college race will start at 9:20 p.m., and the men's race will begin at 10:00 p.m.