Sept. 23, 2005

Cullowhee, N.C. - Even with the Catamounts' football game at Nicholls State cancelled due to the impending threat of Hurricane Rita to the Gulf Coast regions of Texas and Louisiana, the weekend marks a busy one for all of the Catamount athletic fall sports teams. As the Western Carolina community prepares to host Mountain Heritage Weekend, two teams will hold home contests, with the remaining four fall teams hitting the road.

The action kicks off tonight (Friday) as the Catamount Soccer team hosts the Francis Marion Patriots from Florence, S.C., in non-conference action at the Catamount Athletic Complex. The meeting is the first-ever between the two schools. Western (7-2-0, 0-1-0 SoCon) will look to bounce back from its first-ever defeat at the new home facility and will try to remain unbeaten in non-conference action at the CAC. Kickoff Friday night is set for 7:00 pm. Admission is $3.00 for adults, $1.00 for children, with WCU students in free with their student ID card. The first 100 fans through the gates are scheduled to receive a free, autographed team photo.

On Saturday, the Catamount volleyball team will play the second of three-consecutive home contests as it hosts the Davidson Wildcats at 2:00 pm on Parents Weekend in the Valley. Because of Mountain Heritage Day activities on Saturday, the Southern Conference cat fight will be moved to Reid Gymnasium, which served as the former home of Catamount basketball until 1986 and Catamount volleyball from 1984 through 1999. During the latter, 15-year time span, the Catamounts enjoyed much success in Reid, posting a record of 113-63 (.642) in the building until the move to the Ramsey Center. Since `99, the volleyball Cats have been displaced from Ramsey back to Reid a total of 11 times, boasting a 10-1 (.909) record in those matches.

Western Carolina holds a slim, 16-15 advantage in the competitive all-time series with the Wildcats, but has taken the last two meetings with Davidson, including a 3-2 win at Davidson in the only meeting a year ago. In Cullowhee, the Catamounts have taken the last three-in-a-row, all in three games. Match time on Saturday is 2:00 pm and admission will be free.

Two Catamount squads will hit the road for weekend competition. The men and women's cross country teams will visit the Great American Cross Country Festival in Cary, N.C., on Saturday, while the women's tennis team will be nearby at the Residence Inn North Wolfpack Invitational hosted by N.C. State in Raleigh.

Western's women's cross country team will compete in the University and Open Women's race which consists of 16 additional schools, including fellow SoCon-member College of Charleston. Other headlining teams on the women's side include North Carolina, Maryland, and Georgia. The men's team will run in the University and Open Men's race, also consisting of 16 squads including Charleston, Maryland, and Georgia. The Great American Cross Country Festival, which is in its third year, includes a grand total of 23 races overall at the SAS Soccer Park facility, which includes a ranging variety of cross country course, all of which meet USATF, NCAA and IAAF specifications.

The Catamount tennis team will participate in their second event of the fall season, visiting N.C. State's Wolfpack Invitational over the weekend. On Friday, senior Katherine Ptak, who is seeded second in the C2-Singles flight, will face Michelle Alexander from Charlotte at the Isenhour Tennis Center varsity courts. In the same bracket, sophomore Susanna Sjokvist will face NC State's Allison Berry while classmate Trish Hanson will face the second-seeded Agustina Arechavaleta from NCSU in the A3-singles bracket.

Freshman Holly Stocks is seeded third in the Flight D-Singles bracket and earned a first-round bye. She will await the winner from Barry (NCSU) and Day (JMU) later in the afternoon on Friday. Also in the D-singles flight, Stocks' classmate, April Greene, will face Logan Beam from East Carolina at 1:00 pm, with the winner advancing to face Rosemary Younger of Coastal Carolina.

In doubles action, Hanson and Ptak will team to face Kristin Nordstrom and Mary Napier from James Madison on Friday morning in the A-2 doubles bracket, while Sjokvist/Stocks will battle Nicole Lemmerer and Younger from Coastal Carolina.

The Catamount golf teams are in action over the weekend as both squads travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for the Elon University / Sea Trails Intercollegiate. The women are coming off their first-ever season-opening team championship at the ASU/Draper Valley Invitational. Sophomore transfer Malin Fryk won the individual medalist honors in her first tournament as a Catamount. For the men, another sophomore, Murphy, N.C., native Matt Cook, was the low scorer for the third time in just his seventh collegiate tournament at the 21st-annual Raines Development Group Intercollegiate Tournament at the Country Club of South Carolina. Cook carded a 54-hole total of 209 to set a WCU record for best three-round score in school history. As a team, the Catamounts finished with a total of 884, which is the third-best 54-hole score in school history, to place 10th out of 14 teams. Play for both squads tees off on Saturday morning from coastal South Carolina.

Be sure to check back to www.CatamountSports.com for results on all of the weekend's action.