The women’s cross country team will take part in the annual Carmel Classic Invitational at Northview Christian Life Church on Sept. 12.

Although the meet will be relatively small with two other teams, Columbus East and Heritage Christian, the Hounds look forward to another opportunity to flex their running muscles.

“The team is a very strong group, and I expect we will see competitive times. We have been working through some minor injuries and illness, so I hope we are much healthier at the end of this week in time for this meet,” Head Coach Mark Ellington said via e-mail.

Going into the Carmel Classic, varsity runner and junior Alex Chitwood is confident in her team.

“The competition will be average. We should win pretty easily,” Chitwood said.

And while the runners might not consider this one of their tougher races, Ellington believes the experience at Northview will give the Hounds a leg up later on during the season.

“We look to not only win this meet. We are taking advantage of being on the course that our Semistate is run. We want to work as a team and set some time goals toward getting ready for the end of the season,” Ellington said via e-mail.

According to Chitwood, this experience is crucial in leading to the team’s ultimate goal of winning a second consecutive State title.

Chitwood said, “Our team has been looking good. I think we have a shot at winning State. We want to win State. That’s our main goal.”