BROOKLYN, N.Y. --- The 2018 LIU Brooklyn women's cross country team will debut this Saturday, September 8 in the Shawn M. Nassaney Invitational at Bryant University, with six seniors, two sophomores, and a new head coach, Yvonne Harrison.

This first meet will be like a time trial for us," said Harrison. "The team has responded to two-a-days in the preseason and the work they put in over the summer shows. I think this team is better prepared for the season ahead than I had expected. We're going to let the results this weekend dictate the expectations for the group at the end of the year, especially since it's on the same course."

The Blackbirds will bookend their season in Rhode Island, with hopes of improving as the season goes along. The team's two fifth-year veterans, redshirt senior Esther Jean-Louis and graduate student Sarah Northup will be the pace setters for LIU. Both veterans have looked focused and ready to chase personal best times from the opening gun.

Harrison expects the rest of the regular runners, Cayla Coleman, Zaahira Deboise, Liz Burton and Stephanie Reyes to form a strong group that will be able to perform on a consistent basis. Seniors Ashton Burton and Eugenie Hue are also expected to impress, but are not predicted to run every single week for the Blackbirds.

"We're going to be an aggressive team with the upper class women leading the way this year," said Harrison. "We're going to several different courses with different degrees of difficulty, but our team is going to compete each and every day. I'm excited to get started."

The best chance for Brooklynites to see the Blackbirds in action will be at the Mecca of cross country racing, Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, at Iona's annual Dr. Paddy Doyle Meet of Champions on Saturday, September 15. The 2018 NEC Championship will be held on October 27 in Smithfield, R.I.