After a week off, the Ohio men’s and women’s cross country teams are back in action this weekend in its Pre Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Indiana, on Saturday, Oct. 19.
They will be racing on the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. According to Indiana State University, the course is “rolling and challenging.”
This will be the first race the Bobcats have participated in since Oct. 5 in the Louisville Cross Country Classic, where the men’s and women’s teams finished in 20th and 28th respectively.
The competition was tough in the last meet but is not going to be getting any easier this week. Ohio will be facing BYU, Colorado, Washington and Ole Miss, who are all ranked in the top-10 in the coaches’ cross country poll.
They will also be going up against Mid American Conference opponents Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Miami, Northern Illinois, Toledo and Western Michigan. This will be a good test for the Bobcats as their next meet after Pre Nationals will be the MAC Championships in DeKalb, Illinois.
Ohio looks for strong performances from Hailey Bowes and Griffin Butler for the women’s and men’s team respectively. They were the top two performers for Ohio in its last meet.
“As a team we have all of these pieces and we have to put them all together so we’ve done really well in some aspects in one race and other aspects in another,“ assistant coach Ali Wayner said. “So with this being the last race before the conference championship we are looking to put everything together.”
The women are racing in the 6k at 11 a.m. or 12:15 p.m., and the men’s team will race in the 8k at 11:35 a.m. or 12:50 p.m. They race times are dependent upon which group they are placed in, which will be decided at the meet location.
