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For the first time in program history, the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's and women's cross country teams will travel outside of the Midwest, Great Lakes and Central Regions for a regular season meet.
 
The Warhawks will compete at the Connecticut College Invite on Oct. 19 at Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford, Conn., which is just over 1,000 miles from Whitewater.
 
The trip is the culmination of a fundraising process for an endowment dedicated to financially assisting the teams in traveling outside of one of the three local regions once every two years.
 
"We look forward to this as a big sell in recruiting and a way to differentiate ourselves from other schools in the conference and the region," head coach Jeff Miller said. "We like the idea of competing against competitive teams from other regions to increase our chances for at-large team bids to the NCAA Championships. This will also help enhance our student-athlete experience."
 
Miller has worked for the last 5-6 years to build the endowment and work with various alumni to fundraise. He pointed to Warhawk track and field alumnus Scott Richardson as a catalyst for making the every-other-year trip possible.
 
Assistant coach Amanda Brom, a member of the women's team from 2011-14, is excited about the addition of a trip outside of the normal area.
 
"It's awesome for our program to be able to offer that," Brom said. "As a recruiting tool, it's very exciting because it's something that most teams can't provide. For our current athletes on the team, it's a motivator to want to be among the top 7-10 who make the trip. This is very rewarding as an alum and a coach."
 
Brian Kuehl (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) is a junior on the men's team, which is slated to return five of the seven runners who competed in last year's NCAA Regional, including national qualifier and All-American David Fassbender (Slinger, Wis./Slinger). The women's team also returns five of its seven runners from last year's regional race.
 
Kuehl looks forward to competing in a new environment with a veteran core of men's runners as well as a strong incoming class.
 
"We get to see different teams, and we'll probably spend 3-4 days together for this trip," Kuehl said. "We spend a lot of time together already, but now we'll be able to get to know each other a little bit more and give us another outlook. Some of the kids on the team have not been out to the East Coast. That will be kind of cool to see."
 
Last year's field at the Connecticut College Invite included four of the top 15 national team finishers on the women's side and three of the top 15 on the men's side.
 
After an alumni intrasquad on Sept. 7, UW-Whitewater officially opens the 2019 campaign on Sept. 14 with the annual Tom Hoffman Invitational on campus. The teams will also celebrate Senior Day and Parents Day during their lone home meet of the season.
 
The Warhawks travel to the UW-Oshkosh Titan Fall Classic on Sept. 20, the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational on Oct. 4 and Lawrence's Gene Davis Invitational on Oct. 12 prior to traveling east for the Connecticut College Invite.
 
Following the UW-Oshkosh Open on Oct. 25, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships are set for Nov. 2 at Cole Acres Golf Course in Cuba City, Wis.
 
The postseason continues Nov. 16 at the NCAA Midwest Regional at Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wis., where UW-Whitewater will compete on Sept. 20 and Oct. 25. It concludes Nov. 23 with the NCAA Championships at the Tom Sawyer Course in Louisville, Ky.