Instead of heading to South Bend, Ind. like they did for their last meet, Arizona cross country will now be heading to Terre Haute, Ind. for the Pre-NCAA Cross Country Invitational.

The men’s runners competing are Collin Dylla, Shem Kemboi, Timothy Kibet, Connor McCabe, Christian Montoya, Turlan Morlan, Jeffrey Sillers and Carlos Villarreal. There are a total of 611 male athletes running, and though this race is high competition, the hope is for Arizona to have more runners in the top 100 than they did in the Notre Dame Invite last meet.

Last year at the Pre-National Invitational, the winning team was Washington, followed by Northern Arizona and Utah State. Villarreal did well last year having placed 10th in the men’s white 8k. Going into this race, he hopes he can do even better and wants his fellow Wildcats can follow closer behind than the last race.

The women’s runners competing are Jennie Baragar-Petrash, Keelah Barger, Maddy Christopher, Brigid Hanley, Bailey Johnson, Alaina Kautz, Liz Lansing, Lauren Neugeboren and Kayla Young. This team is expected to do quite well in this race, having performed strongly in their previous race. At their last race in the Notre Dame Invitational, three of the girls were able to finish in the top 100 and finished together as No.16 amongst the 24 teams.

Overall, the hope for the men and women going into this race is to continue to do better and improve. This is only their second race on the road, and many of the men competing are younger and aren’t quite used to the 8k distance. Not to mention, the women are looking stronger and stronger and they hope their second stop in Indiana will be even faster than the last.

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