The Illinois State mens and womens cross country teams will compete at the Notre Dame Invitational Saturday in South Bend, Ind., after nearly three weeks off from competition. The meet will be divided into two mens divisions and two womens divisions (gold and blue) with the womens gold race starting at 2 p.m.
After having almost three weeks without a race, the men and women are excited to start competing again, said assistant track and field coach Chris Bailey, who serves as head cross country coach. Some of the best teams in the country, including Stanford (currently rated No. 1 in the nation), will be at the Notre Dame meet, and it will give our top runners an excellent chance to see where they stand against some of the best runners in the NCAA.
The mens gold division race will start at 2:45 p.m. following the womens gold race, while the womens blue division and the mens blue division race start at 4:15 and 5 p.m. respectively.
Illinois State will compete in the blue division for both the mens and womens races. Both womens races will be a 5K, while the mens races will be 8K.
Participating teams in the womens blue division include: Akron, Ball State, Belmont, Calvin College, Central Michigan, Eastern Illinois, Eastern Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi State, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Southern Utah, St. Josephs (PA), Stanford, Utah State, Vanderbilt, Washington, Western Michigan and Wisconsin.
The mens blue division teams include: Arkansas-Little Rock, Belmont, Calvin College, Cincinnati, Eastern Illinois, Malone College, Michigan, North Central College, Notre Dame, Purdue, Rice, St. Josephs (PA), SMU, Stanford, Truman State, Utah State, Washington, Western Kentucky, UW-Oshkosh and Youngstown State.
The Birds will take a weekend off in preparation for the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet on Friday, October 19 in Terre Haute, Ind.
