The Arizona men’s and No. 3 women’s cross country teams head to Madison, Wis., this weekend for the Wisconsin Adidas Cross Country Invitational.
The annual invite is in its fifth year and will be held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course. The race consists of the men’s 8,000 kilometer race and the women’s 6,000 kilometer race and will be Wildcats’ final meet before the Pac-12 Championships in Colorado.
“It’s almost like our pre-nationals,” said senior Elvin Kibet about this weekend’s meet.
There will be 35 men’s teams running and 36 women’s teams running. Some of the competitors include: ASU, Columbia, Iowa State, Michigan State, UCLA and Washington.
On the women’s side: Kibet, sophomore Kayla Beattie, senior Meg Bellino, junior Stephanie Bulder, junior Daylee Burr, sophomore Molly Callahan, junior Nicci Corbin, junior Clea Formaz, freshman McKenna Gaffney, freshman Maria Larsson, senior Erin Menefee, junior Kate Penney, junior Hanna Peterson and senior Amanda Russell will compete for Arizona.
For the men, freshman Matthew Beer, junior Kenji Bierig, freshman Michael Cox, freshman Jeff Gautreau, sophomore Dylan Hopper, freshman Collins Kibet, sophomore Jonas Legernes, junior Sam Macaluso, freshman Travis Thorne, junior Braden Timpe, freshman Brendan Tinoco, junior Thomas Valente and sophomore Sam Willis will run for the UA.
“I’m excticed for (this weekend’s meet),” Collins Kibet said. “It will be a good challenge for us …That’s the way things work for us when we run with big teams. I hope that running there will make me better and stronger.”
The Wildcats’ last meet was the Mesa Thunderbird Classic in Mesa on Saturday, where the men’s team won the race with 15 points and Valente finished first among Division I competitors in the 8k race, with a time of 24:48.5. Also rounding out the top three for the Wildcats was Timpe (2nd, 25:15.7) and Thorne (3rd, 25:20.9). The rest of the men’s team finished shortly behind; Willis (5th, 25:38.4), Gautreau (8th, 26:14.1), Tinoco (9th, 26:20.9), and Cox (10th, 27:11.3).
Competing for the women’s team this past weekend were Gaffney and Burr. Gaffney had a time of 18:31.1 which was good enough for fifth place among the Division 1 competitors. Burr, had a time of 18:52.4 to take sixth place overall in the 5,000-meter race.
— Follow Makenzie Thiel @makenziethiel
