The UConn women’s cross country team will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, on Saturday Oct. 19, to compete in the high-stakes Pre-Nationals Invitational meet on the Zimmer Championship Course.
The Huskies will be competing in the first of six races on Saturday, the women’s “A” race, which is set to start at 10 a.m. There will be 32 other teams competing in the race with Connecticut, including the nationally ranked host team Wisconsin Badgers and the powerful Notre Dame Fighting Irish from the Great Lakes Region. Perennial powerhouse Northern Arizona from the Mountain Region will also be in attendance. There will be a total of 24 teams ranked inside the top five of their regional rankings spanning from coast to coast and conference to conference.
UConn will dive headfirst into the most competitive meet of its season with a top-5 regional ranking and a first-place victory at the Bruce Kirsh Cross Country Cup last weekend. Along with Connecticut, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 3 Boston College will compete in the Northeast Region rankings, making this meet a pivotal face-off between top-ranked New England squads.
Chloe Thomas will look to continue her prolific senior season after setting the meet record at every course she has ran at to this point. The Huskies will only be allowed eight competitors on Saturday and will need to select from a roster full of talented runners, including many emerging sophomores who competed last Saturday in New Hampshire.
Other runners to keep an eye out for in the live results are senior leaders Jenna Zydanowicz, who placed inside the top five in each of her last two races, and Caroline Towle, who is coming off a season high placement of ninth at the Paul Short run. Malin Rahm, Maddie Relyea, Chloe Trudel and Bruce Kirsh-winner Calista Mayer are also names to look for on Saturday. With a bevy of runners setting personal bests in both times and meet placements this fall, choosing the team’s top eight runners will be a good problem to have for the coaching staff.
The Thomas Zimmer Course opened in 2009 and is a colon shaped circuit marveled for its beauty and pedigree in the cross country world, located next to the University Ridge Golf Course in Madison.
Saturday’s weather projects to be warm for a mid-October contest with temperatures reaching into the high 60’s and low 70’s. There is no forecasted rain during race hours.