The Ohio men’s and women’s cross country teams can make a fresh start Friday at the Notre Dame Invitational, when they enter their first meet that the NCAA records points for final standings.
After originally signing on for the All-Ohio Championships in Cedarville and Notre Dame Invitational, coach Clay Calkins backed out of the Cedarville meet in favor of the race in South Bend, Ind.
“We understand we have to do our duty,” Calkins said. “That [duty] will take our team to the best competition.”
By heading west, the Bobcats will have the opportunity to feature a full squad of runners, as the invitational allows for up to 15 per school.
Ohio will take on the underdog role, running against national powerhouses at Notre Dame.
In the women’s heat, the Ohio runners will be paired with No. 2 Florida State and No. 4 Duke. The men are scheduled in the weaker of the two meets, in which they were eligible to compete.
“It’s always good to run with some the best teams in the nation,” Calkins said.
The coach also said he is optimistic that the women can catch other teams off guard but they will still be challenged with the task of running against 24 other teams.
The Bobcats will enter the invitational with a fair amount of time off and hopefully fresh legs.
Both squads last ran Sept. 20 at the Wake Forest Invitational. At that meet, the women placed 2nd, while the men took 4th when the Florida State Seminoles blew away the competition on both sides.
An important factor to watch for is how well Ohio transitions into longer-distanced meets.
Earlier in the year, each squad ran 5K races, but the distance has since increased to 8K for the men and 6K for the women.
The men run in the Gold Division, which is set to begin at 2:45 p.m. Central Michigan is the only other Mid-American Conference school to run in their heat.
The women will compete at 4:15 p.m. in the Blue Division.
gh181212@ohiou.edu
@charliehatch_
