Sept. 29, 2011
USTFCCCA Cross Country Rankings -- Week Three
EVANSTON, Ill. -- With exactly one month left to prepare before the Big Ten Championships, head coach April Likhite and Northwestern head to South Bend Friday for the adidas Notre Dame Invitational. The Wildcats have climbed to a No. 7 ranking in this week's USTFCCCA Midwest Regional poll following a solid showing at last week's Roy Griak Invitational.
Northwestern is one of 20 squads competing in the Gold Division race, which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. CT. Among the regional foes NU will see once again are Illinois-Chicago, Bradley, Milwaukee and Valparaiso. Central Michigan of the Great Lakes Region, meanwhile, carries a regional ranking of No. 13.
This marks the 55th straight year the Fighting Irish have hosted the Notre Dame Invitational, which was founded in 1956 by former Irish head coach Alex Wilson. It is contested on the Notre Dame Golf Course and is comprised of nearly 60 total schools on the men's and women's sides.
The Wildcats last ran in the Notre Dame Invite in 2008 when they took third place out of 23 teams in the Gold Division. Then-freshman Sophie Ewald placed 14th overall and second for NU with her time of 18:04, while classmates Rachel Kaminski and Hallie Busta also posted top-50 individual finishes.
This season, NU has been led in each meet by junior Audrey Huth, whose season-best 5K time of 17:56 came at the season-opening Crusader Invitational on Sept. 2.
Following this weekend, Northwestern has two weeks to prepare for the Wisconsin Invitational on Oct. 14 in Madison.
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