ANDERSON, S.C. – Second-year Anderson University head cross country coach Kevin Licht has announced the Trojans' schedule for the upcoming 2016 season.

The Trojan rosters feature a combined 20 returning letterwinners on the men's and women's squads, as the Trojans will look to continue their tradition of upper echelon performances around the Southeast Region.

"I am excited about our schedule because our roster, especially on the women's side has grown dramatically," said Licht. "And our schedule gives us a lot more flexibility. It will allow for a lot more opportunities for our younger runners, who may be going to some meets and are completely out-matched by the level of competition, it will give them an opportunity to run in smaller meets and face comparable competition, while growing as a runner and an athlete and prepare them for their junior and senior seasons when they'll be called on."

The Trojans are slated to open the campaign at USC Upstate's Eye Opener after a two-year absence from the event. In the 2013 season-opener, then-freshman Olivia Gardner paced the women's squad to a fifth-place finish in her collegiate debut. Gardner's time placed her seventh overall, while then-freshman Ben Boerma garnered 34th place on the men's side, as the team captured seventh place.

AU remains in the Upstate and will be returning to familiar ground eight days later for the Fourth Annual Furman Cross Country Classic, which is slated to be held on the Furman University Golf Course. Mason Hazel's 20th-place overall finish paced the Black and Gold men's team to ninth place last season, with Gardner crossing the line in 24th place to lead the Trojan women to a fifth-place finish.

A week later the Trojans will get a preview of the 2016 NCAA Southeast Region Championship course when they travel to Montevallo, Ala. for the Falcon Classic. Montevallo was also the site of the 2014 Regional Championships that saw the AU men claim 16th place, while the women captured sixth place out of the 26 teams that competed. Hazel finished 12th overall with the top time among all freshman at the 10K distance (32:55.43) en route to garnering All-Region honors. With six Trojan runners posting season-best times, Gardner finished 23rd in a season-best time of 23:34.32 to lead the women's team.

"I like the flexibility that our schedule gives us," added Licht. "Our top group faces great competition. We go to Montevallo to preview the regional meet. We'll face some great competition at Furman. And the SAC is one of the top conferences in the region. We definitely get that top-tier competition for our top group, but then we also get the level of competition that our younger group requires."

Anderson follows up with first-time appearances in back-to-back events by returning to the Upstate for the Warrior Invitational, which will be hosted by Southern Wesleyan on Sept. 24 and the USC Upstate Invitational (Oct. 1).

The Trojans will head to Charlotte on Friday, Oct. 7, for their third consecutive appearance, and sixth appearance in the last seven seasons for the Royals Challenge, hosted by Queens. In their final tune-up for the conference championships, the men's squad finished 16th overall and eighth among NCAA Division II squads a year ago, while Amber Worthy paced three Trojan women's runners in the event. Hazel covered the 8K distance in a season-best time of to claim 21st place on the men's side.

After finishing third in both the women's and men's 2015 SAC Championships, the Trojans travel to Columbia, S.C., for this year's league championships, which will be hosted by Newberry on Oct. 22 at the Clemson Research Center.

"The South Atlantic Conference is shaping up to be a really great year," added Licht. "Our men's team made a lot of improvements during the track season and they've put themselves in that top tier with Mars Hill and Queens. The women's side has been a dogfight, too, between the top three teams and I expect the exact same thing this year. Wingate has an unbelievably great group coming back and Queens is always tough."

After capturing Second-Team All-SAC honors as a freshman, Hazel garnered first-team accolades at last year's SAC Championships after finishing sixth in a time of 25:42.7. Ben Boerma earned Honorable Mention honors with an 18th-place finish in a time of 26:48.2, which was more than a minute faster than the previous year.

Three women's runners finished in the top-12 at the 2015 SAC Championships, with Gardner earning First-Team All-Conference honors by posting a team-best time of 18:58.0, which was 44 seconds faster than her time at the league championships in 2014. The native of Tarpon Springs, Fla., finished fourth. Haylee Love also collected First-Team All-SAC accolades with a seventh-place finish in a time of 19:04.3, which was 11 seconds faster than her freshman season. Alex Dixon was named Second-Team All-Conference for the second straight year after finishing 12th in a time of 19:28.8. Freshman Martha Coleman narrowly missed garnering Second-Team All- Conference honors, but captured All-Freshman team recognition by crossing the finish line in 22nd in a time of 20:10.4.

"The challenges are very similar to the positives in that having nine meets on your schedule is a lot, but we embrace those challenges because it gives our athletes an opportunity to race," noted Licht. "While there are some challenges, they really aren't on the athletic side, they are really more on the coaching staff."

Two weeks after the conference championships, the Trojans will make an appearance in the NCAA Southeast Regionals at Montevallo.

Hazel claimed 16th place at last year's Southeast Region Championships in Wingate, N.C. to pace the Trojans to a ninth-place showing, while Dixon led the women's squad to seventh after crossing the line in the 30th spot.

"I'm also looking forward to our freshman class coming in," concluded Licht. "We have a lot of talent on both sides and I'm curious to see how that plugs in to the strong group that we already have."