POCATELLO, Idaho – The 14 ISU cross country members traveling to Indiana will compete in the biggest meet of the season thus far this Friday, Oct. 2, at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational.
This will be the largest meet the Bengals will compete in this season. ISU will face up to 11 other teams at the Big Sky Championships in late October, but that pales in comparison to the 18 teams the men and the 22 teams the women will face this weekend at Notre Dame.
Southern Utah will be ISU's only conference opponent present, but due to different divisional placements, neither the men nor the women will race them.
Head Coach
Nate Houle expects the race to be very physical and wants his runners to focus on controlling their own race while limiting the impact of outside influences. Houle said that a more physical race is a sure bet when a large group with times within 30 seconds of each other are squeezed onto a small course.
Houle has a plan to have ISU cross country in the national rankings within a few seasons. To get ISU to the nationally-competitive level, he wants his teams to get a feel for the intense competition that exists at the meets nationally-ranked teams perform in.
"This is a huge meet," Houle said. "There will be many nationally-ranked teams there. This is the week we see if things are going in the right direction."
The women will go head-to-head with five nationally-ranked teams including a New Mexico squad that is currently ranked No. 1.
Last week's Montana State Invitational marked the beginning of the regular season for cross country, meaning teams began to accrue points based on their performances for a bid to nationals.
However, both the men's and the women's top priority this week is improvement.
Houle is keeping his expectations realistic for his teams this weekend. He wants both the men and the women to overcome the difficulties they will face in a field size they've never experienced before while sticking to their specific strategies.
"I want to balance the anxiety of the race with the performance," said Houle. "It's a huge psychological sport. You have to control yourself which is one of my goals throughout the season, to teach them control."
Notes Seven members of each team will travel to the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational.
Senior
Kylie Hutchison is among the traveling seven for the women's team but is currently questionable. Hutchison will be a race-time decision as she continues to battle injury.
The team will not take an additional member from the women's team in case Hutchison cannot race. Instead they would race with six members (only the top five times are counted for a team in cross country).
Houle is expecting senior
KC Hunsicker to race following his strong ninth-place finish in Bozeman after returning from a hamstring injury.
The women's seven are
Kylie Hutchison,
Katie Nicholls,
Presli Hutchison,
Sasha Kent,
Carly Hansen,
Samantha Johnston, and
Ashley Sondag.
The men's squad will include
Ty James,
KC Hunsicker,
Tucker Boyd,
Dallin Webb,
Jake Meeker,
Andrew Kaler, and
Wyatt Didericksen.
Senior
Jacob Campbell will not make the trip after coming down with an illness.
Following a tough two week preparation leading up to the meet, Houle has started tapering off workouts this week. He hopes the build-up and cooldown will give his runners fresh legs coming into the meet.
The women will begin their 5K race at 2 p.m. and the men will race five miles with a 5 p.m. start time.
The Bengal women received a 12th place ranking in the Mountain Region this week.
Where to FollowISU's social media sites will post updates as they recieve them on the race.
Additionally, the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association website will be providing updates throught the day.
Click here to be taken to their results wall providing live updates (with splits).
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