Cross country is always a hard sport to predict, according to head coach Jeff Pigg, since you do not know how good other teams will be until you face them.

Despite that, Pigg expects both the men’s and women’s teams at the University to do well this fall.

Jeff Pigg

“I think we’ll have a pretty good year,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to know what other teams are going to have, [but] I know we’re going to get better, and that’s the most important thing. At some point if you keep getting better, you beat a lot of people, and you’re pretty good.”

He believes both teams will be better than they were last year. The men’s team finished fifth in the Southeastern Conference and the women finished fourth, and Pigg expects both teams to move up at least one spot in the SEC pecking order, if not more.

The top returning runner for the men’s team is sophomore Bill Matthews.  Matthews earned All-SEC Freshman honors last season after finishing his first 8K SEC Championships in 27th position, scoring a point for the Bulldogs.

Fellow sophomore Brett Richardson is expected to be a big contributor for the team as well. Like Matthews, he was an All-SEC Freshman selection last season.

The anchor for the women’s team is junior Kristie Krueger, the co-captain of last year’s squad.

She finished in first place in two events last season -— the 5K Georgia-Georgia Tech Dual Meet and the Georgia Cross Country Invitational— with both wins coming in consecutive meets.

Two incoming freshman have Pigg excited as well, with Brandon Lord on the men’s side and Sydney Marshall on the women’s.

“Brandon was very, very good in high school, and Sydney is someone I think can step right in and do some good stuff for us also,” Pigg said.

The teams competed on its new course at the UGA Equestrian Complex in Bishop for the first time last season, and Pigg was pleased with the results.

“It’s a good course,” he said. “I’m glad the administration helped make that happen, and I’m happy the equestrian team has welcomed us out there. I think with the efforts of myself and the administration, along with the cooperation of the equestrian team, that we will have a fantastic course out there long-term … It’s a course that people are going to remember and really enjoy.”

Pigg said the upcoming season comes down to one meet — the SEC Championships.

“The SEC meet is our No. 1 goal,” he said. “We want to be the best we can be there.”