Both the men's and women's teams look to validate themselves as true national title contenders when they participate in the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational on Friday.
The highly competitive field contains 46 schools on the men's side, including No. 1 Wisconsin. On the women's side, No. 16 Notre Dame will face a field of 49 teams.
No. 13 Irish men's coach Joe Piane said Friday's meet provides the Irish with an opportunity to measure themselves against some of the best programs in the country.
"This will be a very competitive meet," Piane said. "It is the most competitive meet we have been in all year. There are up to 20 nationally ranked teams in the field. The host school, Wisconsin, is No. 1, so we will have our work cut out for us. But it should be a fun meet."
Because of the strong field, Piane said the meet also provides the Irish good preparation for the upcoming Big East Championships and NCAA Regionals and Championships shortly thereafter.
"This meet also gives us an opportunity to acquire more at-large points, which will help us get us in to the NCAAs if we finish outside of the top-2 in our region," Piane said. "Because of the quality of the competition we will be facing Friday, it will give us a good simulation of what the Big Easts and NCAAs will be like.
"We need solid contributions from all of our competitors. It is going to have to be a total team effort if we want to be successful."
The women's race will start at 1 p.m. and the men's race will follow shortly after the conclusion of the women's portion. The women's race will be a 6k, while the men's will be an 8k.
The races will take place at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisc., on Friday.
Contact Joe Wirth at jwirth@nd.edu
