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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue cross country program begins its postseason journey with the 2018 Men's and Women's Big Ten Cross Country Championships on Sunday, October 28. The event, hosted by Nebraska, is set to take place at the Mahoney Golf Course in Lincoln, Nebraska.The races will begin with the women's 6k at 11:45 a.m. ET followed by the men's 8k at 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday.
For the first time in program history, the men enter the championships with a No. 18 nationally-ranked status. Among the league competition, the team will compete against No. 3 nationally-ranked Wisconsin along with No. 22 Indiana, No. 27 Michigan and RV Michigan State.
A year ago, the men's team recorded fifth at the Big Ten Championships with Jaret Carpenter leading the team with a seventh-place finish and a time of 24:17.2 to earn first team honors. The 2017 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Curt Eckstein also secured a top-20 finish after coming in 16th with a time of 24:38.0. Purdue's 133 points on the men's side in 2017 was its lowest mark since 1986.
The women's team enters the weekend looking to improve upon its 9th-place finish at the Big Ten Championships a year ago. Emma Benner led the Boilermakers with a time of 20:46.45 and a 14th-place finish, a time which was 22 seconds faster than her mark a year prior.
The Purdue women currently rank No. 9 in the Great Lakes Region, behind fellow Big Ten institutions Michigan, Indiana, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State. Moreover, the women are slated to run at the championships with of six top-30 ranked teams.
This season, the Purdue women's program produced two second-place team finishes at the Crusader Open and the John McNichols Invite, along with finishing 22nd at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invite and Pre-Nationals. Additionally, senior Mary Abramson was named Big Ten Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week on October 24, just one week after Carpenter earned the men's honor to mark the first time in program history the men's and women's programs have earned back-to-back B1G weekly honors.
The meet will be available to watch live on FloTrack HERE with the purchase of a subscription.