Eastern Michigan Athletics
Friday, September 29
South Bend, Ind.
1:00 p.m.
Eastern Michigan University
at
Notre Dame Invitational
Women's Cross Country Set to Face Top Talent at Notre Dame Invite
9/27/2017 12:53:00 PM | Women's XC
The Eagles return to action with a tough test following their bye week
YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University women's cross country team travels to South Bend, Ind., Friday, Sept. 29, to compete in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite. This will mark the fifth consecutive year the Eagles will participate in the competition.
"This will be a big test for us," said Head Coach Sue Parks. "There are four top ten teams in the field along with a number for other top 30 teams. We've had two really good weeks of training and we are prepared to run aggressively and see some good improvement over our performance at Vanderbilt. We're excited about the opportunity to mix it up with some great teams."
The event will be the toughest race EMU has competed in this season, as the field of teams includes some of the top talent in the nation. Out of the 46 total teams, seven are ranked within the top 30, including the top ranked team in the country, Colorado, and No. 3 New Mexico. Two other programs rank inside the top-10 in No. 7 NC State and No. 9 Arkansas, while the rest of the ranked squads include tournament-host Notre Dame, who currently sits at 12th, and the No. 26 and 27 ranked teams in Ohio State and Utah, respectively.
The event will be the second contest against nationally ranked competition, as the Eagles most recently raced at the Commodore Classic (Sept. 16), which included No. 25 Vanderbilt, No. 26 Ohio State, and Missouri, who was then ranked 28th but has since dropped out of the top-30. The Eagles will look to improve on their fourth place finish.
EMU will also get a new taste of MAC competition as Bowling Green is the other conference representative within the pool of teams. This will serve as the third MAC opponent the Green and White have raced against this season, as the team bested Western Michigan in the George Dales Invite (Sept. 8) and topped Miami in the Commodore Classic.
In last year's Notre Dame Invite, the Eagles put together a strong performance, placing third and edging out then-No.2 and defending NCAA Champion, New Mexico, as well as No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 24 Vanderbilt, and No. 28 Utah. The Eagles will look to senior Jordann McDermitt (Davison, Mich.-Davison) to lead the pack, just as she did in last year's competition, where she took seventh place. This season, McDermitt has also paced the Green and White in both meets she has participated in thus far, finishing second in both the George Dales Invite and Commodore Classic.
The day will be packed with action, as five different races will be held throughout, all of which will take place at Burke Golf Course. The women's team will kickoff the day at 1:00 p.m. in a 5000m run, along with the rest of the women's blue division. The men's team will compete in the blue division five-mile, which starts immediately after the women's race. An open race including both men and women follows the men's blue division, while the women's and men's gold divisions, who will also run the 5,000m and five mile, respectively, round out the day.
Fans will be able to follow live results with a link shared on both of the cross country schedule pages on our athletic website, EMUEagles.com. The links will most likely be activated the day prior or the day of the competition.
"This will be a big test for us," said Head Coach Sue Parks. "There are four top ten teams in the field along with a number for other top 30 teams. We've had two really good weeks of training and we are prepared to run aggressively and see some good improvement over our performance at Vanderbilt. We're excited about the opportunity to mix it up with some great teams."
The event will be the toughest race EMU has competed in this season, as the field of teams includes some of the top talent in the nation. Out of the 46 total teams, seven are ranked within the top 30, including the top ranked team in the country, Colorado, and No. 3 New Mexico. Two other programs rank inside the top-10 in No. 7 NC State and No. 9 Arkansas, while the rest of the ranked squads include tournament-host Notre Dame, who currently sits at 12th, and the No. 26 and 27 ranked teams in Ohio State and Utah, respectively.
The event will be the second contest against nationally ranked competition, as the Eagles most recently raced at the Commodore Classic (Sept. 16), which included No. 25 Vanderbilt, No. 26 Ohio State, and Missouri, who was then ranked 28th but has since dropped out of the top-30. The Eagles will look to improve on their fourth place finish.
EMU will also get a new taste of MAC competition as Bowling Green is the other conference representative within the pool of teams. This will serve as the third MAC opponent the Green and White have raced against this season, as the team bested Western Michigan in the George Dales Invite (Sept. 8) and topped Miami in the Commodore Classic.
In last year's Notre Dame Invite, the Eagles put together a strong performance, placing third and edging out then-No.2 and defending NCAA Champion, New Mexico, as well as No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 24 Vanderbilt, and No. 28 Utah. The Eagles will look to senior Jordann McDermitt (Davison, Mich.-Davison) to lead the pack, just as she did in last year's competition, where she took seventh place. This season, McDermitt has also paced the Green and White in both meets she has participated in thus far, finishing second in both the George Dales Invite and Commodore Classic.
The day will be packed with action, as five different races will be held throughout, all of which will take place at Burke Golf Course. The women's team will kickoff the day at 1:00 p.m. in a 5000m run, along with the rest of the women's blue division. The men's team will compete in the blue division five-mile, which starts immediately after the women's race. An open race including both men and women follows the men's blue division, while the women's and men's gold divisions, who will also run the 5,000m and five mile, respectively, round out the day.
Fans will be able to follow live results with a link shared on both of the cross country schedule pages on our athletic website, EMUEagles.com. The links will most likely be activated the day prior or the day of the competition.
Players Mentioned
/ Women's XC
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