DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU cross country team will open the season at the Bear Twilight Invitational Friday, Aug. 31, in Waco, Texas. The Mustangs will face a field of all Texas teams in a 4K race that will start at 7 p.m. at the Heart of Texas Soccer Complex.

Joining the Mustangs in the field is host Baylor along with Incarnate Word, North Texas, TCU, Texas State and UTA. It will be SMU's seventh consecutive year participating in the Invite.

The SMU squad returns lots of experience for the upcoming season, as all but one runner is an upperclassman. The list includes junior Hannah Miller, the reigning conference champion. Last season, Miller qualified for the NCAA Championships by posting a program best time of 19:50.7 in the 6K at the NCAA Regional. Additionally, fellow junior Charlotte-Tara Murphy will be returning to a course where she ran a 13.44.5 during last season's Bear Twilight, an SMU record for a 4K.

The Mustangs are coming off a 2017 season that saw the program finish second at the American Athletic Conference Championship and narrowly miss a spot at the NCAA Championships when they finished fourth at the NCAA South Central Region. This year, the team sits just outside the preseason USTFCCCA Top-30 and were ranked third in the South Central Region, which includes all programs from Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.

The Bear Twilight is the first of the four events on the regular season slate for SMU. After Waco, the Mustangs will remain in Texas when they travel to Denton for the Ken Garland Invitational on Sep. 15.  The American Athletic Conference Championship is set for Oct. 25 in New Orleans.