Cross Country

Coach April Likhite has scheduled the most competitive slate of track meets for Northwestern in her tenure, giving her runners a chance to run against the same athletes they faced in the fall.

With the long time between the end of one cross country season and the beginning of another, live races on indoor and outdoor tracks in the winter and spring can cement gains made in training and prove to an athlete that hard work is paying off.

“We’re going to meets where a lot of those Big Ten schools we want to be competitive with are going to be racing their better athletes,” she said. “It’s only going to make (our athletes) better.”

The Wildcats will tackle one of the first of many premier events on their plate for the season at this weekend’s Meyo Invitational, hosted by Notre Dame. Nearly 1,000 athletes representing 49 schools and several track clubs are entered for the two-day meet on Friday and Saturday, and the competition includes several Olympic athletes and numerous All-Americans.

The Cats will also take trips to several prestigious outdoor meets in the spring such as the Lenny Lyles Invitational hosted by Louisville, the San Francisco Distance Carnival, which attracted almost 1,300 runners from more than 150 schools last season, and the Drake Relays.

Sophomore Andrea Ostenso, who earned All-Region honors during the fall cross country season and will be running the 5,000 meter this weekend, is eager for the opportunity to test herself at meets like the Meyo.

“I’m excited to see what I can do with other people around to push me,” she said.

Likhite believes the increased number of showcase events for her team will give her program a boost for the future as well as the present.

“It’s more attractive to early high school runners who are looking for a more well-rounded distance career,” she said.

Likhite is not only looking for more top events for her team, but also for more opportunities for her runners at these meets. In the past, Likhite would bring a couple of athletes to the Meyo Invitational, but this year she said she is extending that number to four or five. NU’s runners will be competing in the mile, 3,000-meter and 5,000-meter events at the meet.

For the athletes on the team like Ostenso, the loaded schedule is not merely a symbol of a rising program or a chance for fall preparation. The intense schedule is a way for Cats athletes to make a name for themselves on the biggest stages and push themselves individually to the highest levels of the sport.

“My ultimate goal is to break 16 minutes (in the 5,000 meter) by outdoor track, so I can qualify for the Stanford Invitational (one of the most prestigious track meets in the country),” Ostenso said.

Ostenso is hardly the only one on the team setting lofty goals of improvement for the season. Likhite believes the process of reaching those goals will begin this weekend on the indoor track at Notre Dame.

“They have an outstanding track,” she said. “It’s just a great environment to run a fast time.”

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