The Northwestern football team has it easy. Lining up on defense, the Wildcats don’t find themselves staring at USC’s Matt Leinart, Minnesota’s Laurence Maroney and Michigan’s Jason Avant all at once.
While the football team must focus on only one opponent at a time, the women’s cross country squad often has to take on the best runners in the country simultaneously.
Such is the case with Saturday’s Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., where the Wildcats will compete against many of the nation’s top-50 teams. The 6K meet is run on the same course as the NCAA National Championships.
The high level of competition presents the Cats with a significant challenge. At last year’s Pre-National Invitational, NU finished 35th out of 37 teams.
Junior Mallory O’Niel and sophomore Marie Grabinski are the only NU runners competing this year who also ran in the race last year. Due to her experience, Grabinski knows all about how tough the meet is.
“It’s the best competition in the country. Everyone is there,” Grabinski said.
However, coach Amy Tush sees the opportunity that the race presents.
“There’s no pressure,” Tush said. “We have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I think we can surprise some teams.”
The top seven NU runners will take part in the varsity race while several others will run later on in an open event.
The team knows in order to be successful against such stiff opposition, it must elevate its performance.
“The difference between last year and this year is that this year we pack together well,” said Tush, who believes the team’s first through fifth finishers must be within 30 seconds of each other for the Cats to have success. “We need to finish strong together.”
“We’re much deeper this year,” Grabinski added. “If we run up to our potential, we’ll have no trouble improving on (last year’s finish).”
Grabinski was NU’s top finisher in the event last year, finishing 100th with a time of 22:11. This year she will be challenged by up-and-coming freshman Hilary Forman, who recorded the fastest time of any NU runner at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational, the team’s last race.
“It’s good to have different people step up,” Tush said. “We compete with each other, but it’s healthy competition.”
The Cats will have their work cut out for them on a course Tush calls “deceivingly challenging.”
Although it is devoid of any steep inclines, the frequent rolling hills can make things difficult on runners.
While part of the squad will be tackling this challenge, seven NU runners will be in Vernon Hills, Ill., for the 5K Forester Invitational. NU won the race last year, as it has done four of the last five years.
Sophomore Natalie Bond is the top returning NU runner running in the race, having placed ninth overall in last year’s meet with a time of 20:50.
Reach Andrew Simon at [email protected].
