USTFCCCA Preview
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue men's and women's cross country teams are back in action on Saturday as the Boilermakers head to the Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind. The Boilermakers will travel 12 men and 12 women to the race. The men are scheduled to run 8,000-meters, while the women will run their first 6,000-meter race of the season.
While the meet in Wisconsin this weekend has taken several top teams from the Pre-Nats field, the Boilermakers will still be up against several of the nation's best. On the women's side, eight of the top 15 teams in the Great Lakes Region are scheduled to compete, including the No. 1 team in the country, Michigan. The nation's third-ranked team will also compete as the Oregon Ducks are scheduled to compete at the site of next month's NCAA Championships. Georgetown is also in the field as the No. 4 team in the country.
Katie Hoevet, Hope Schmelzle and Gabrielle Broschard are among the women competing for Purdue. Hoevet and Schmelzle talked about their expectations and their interviews can be found below. The Great Lakes Region's No. 11 team will also travel Kristin Fritts, Abigail Hostetler, Kiara McIntosh and Laura Maibuecher. All have scored for Purdue so far this season. The women will be up against fellow Big Ten foes Northwestern and Penn State, as well as the Wolverines.
On the men's side, Matthew McClintock looks to pace the Boilermakers as he has done in each of the first three meets. McClintock took sixth at least year's Pre-Nationals race with a time of 23:39.35. He talked about his expectations for this weekend in an interview that can be found below. Also competing for the Purdue men are Caleb Kerr, Dillon Hinen, David Dalton and Jeremy Craven. Each has scored for the Boilermakers this season, including three of them at the Notre Dame Invite.
The men will be up against the top two teams in the country with Colorado and Oregon making the trip to Indiana State for the race. The Boilermakers will also compete against Big Ten foes Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa.
The Boilermakers will look to measure themselves up against the competing Big Ten teams, as well as the other top ranked teams ahead of the championship portion of the season. The Boilermakers have just one more tune-up after Saturday's Pre-Nationals race prior to the Big Ten Championships at the start of Novemeber.
For updates for all of Saturday's big races, be sure to follow http://www.ustfccca.org/2014/10/featured/2014-cross-country-updates and @PurdueTrackXC on Twitter.