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Cross country opens season at Utah Open

Cross country heads to Wisconsin

10/15/2014 6:52:00 PM | Women's Cross Country

OGDEN, Utah – The Weber State men's and women's cross country will travel to Wisconsin for one last race before conference. The Wildcats will take part in the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational which has established itself as one of the most anticipated races of the fall as many of the nation's top teams will toe the line.

The Wildcats will look to beat some of the best teams in the nation as when they toe the line on Friday morning. They will look to build on their performance from last season when the men's and women's teams finished 34th and 31st respectively.

On the women's side, the #2 ranked Michigan State will have fierce competition from #5 Arkansas and #6 Stanford. It will feature 5 five teams that are currently ranked in the top 10 by the USTFCCA.

Jamie Stokes, Hailey Ricks, and Ellie Child will lead the Wildcats up front but their team score will be decided by two freshmen. Both Taylor Cox and Paige Dilmore will be depended on to run well and close that gap with the top three.

“We are looking to beat some teams that are looking to go to nationals to score some points,” WSU head coach Paul Pilkington said. “The only other meet that might be tougher than this one would be Nationals. For the women, we will continue to look for the freshmen to close the gap with our top runners. We have had a good three weeks of training and will find out just how far along we are now.”

“On the men's side, we haven't had our men side all have a good race this year,” Pilkington said. “We are looking for the team run well together and have a good race.”

The men's side is just as deep with #3 Northern Arizona looking to build on their victory in Washington two weeks ago. They will see competition from #5 Portland, #7 Stanford, and #9 Wisconsin. The Wildcats will look to place high in an effort to gain points that will help them qualify for Nationals.

Mike Hardy and Trevor Ricks will look to lead the Wildcats to a top 15 finish. But the men's team will be looking for their whole team to have a complete race. Look for Jason Kearns and Preston Johnson to battle to be the Wildcats fifth runner.

The races will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, October 17th at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. Live results will be available here.