West Central Reporter

Western Illinois University's cross country teams are set to participate in their third meet of the season at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. The event will take place on September 29 at the Burke Golf Course in South Bend, Indiana. The women's team will compete in a "Gold" 5K race starting at 12:45 p.m., while the men's team will run a "Gold" 5-mile race beginning at 1:30 p.m.

The women's race features a field of 18 teams, including Loyola Marymount, UC Davis, High Point, Richmond, University of Chicago, UW-Green Bay, James Madison, Valparaiso, Cleveland State, Western Michigan, Akron, Northern Illinois, Otterbein, Youngstown State, St. Thomas, Oakland, Santa Clara and IUPUI.

"We are excited for our young women's team to get the chance to race a 5k instead of the 6k distance this weekend," said coach Trey Brokaw. "With our team being predominantly middle-distance athletes, we hope to see their talents shine running one kilometer less this weekend."

The men's competition includes 16 teams such as UC Davis, Oakland, IUPUI, UW-Green Bay, High Point, Richmond, Valparaiso, University of Michigan, Central Michigan, Otterbein, Notre Dame, Loyola Marymount University of Chicago and Vanderbilt.

"The men's race will be exciting to watch our front runners get after it," said coach Brokaw. "We have instructed the top guys to go up front with the lead pack and see what they have left in the tank in the closing miles. Some of our true middle-distance and young athletes will try to pack up and move through the field of runners together."

Following this event at Notre Dame's invitational meet on September 29th in South Bend IN., Western Illinois' Leathernecks plan to compete next at Bradley Pink Classic Peoria IL scheduled October13th.