POCATELLO, Idaho -- The ISU men's and women's cross country teams travel to Cedar City, Utah for the Southern Utah Color Country Invitational this Saturday, Oct. 10 with an updated start time of 10 a.m. for the men and 10:45 a.m. for the women.
The course is the same the Bengals will race in the Big Sky Championships, providing ISU runners with a chance to familiarize themselves with the 2K course loop they'll face once more on Oct. 31.
While the Big Sky Championships have been hosted at SUU multiple times, the course will feature a different layout than in previous years. The men will run three laps of the 2K loop in their 6K race and the women will run two laps for their 4K. The Big Sky Championship course will be a 5K race for the women and an 8K for the men.
Utah Valley and Southern Utah will also take part in the race among a few potential late additions.
The meet permits 10 runners per team, which gives those racers who did not make the seven member roster to the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational a chance to prove themselves in a racing environment.
According to Head Coach
Nate Houle, this meet will be experimental for both the men's and the women's teams. His goal is to have both teams arrive at the first split at a specified time together in a large pack.
The men will implement this strategy most notably to work on a consistent start, as they started too quickly off the line in Indiana. Houle attributes their quick start to the excitement and energy of the big meet, and anticipates that a similar atmosphere will exist at the conference championships. He hopes practicing pacing at this meet will translate to success come Oct. 31.
Once they hit the first split, the men are free to return to their typical racing strategy.
Houle said the women's focus heading into this weekend's race is to apply the team-running strategy they began the season with; Houle believes they have strayed from the strategy in recent events.
Notes ISU's women are ranked 12th in the Mountain Region.
Utah State, a Mountain West team, is currently ranked 11th in the men's Mountain Region poll 10th in the women's Mountain Region poll.
Southern Utah's men are ranked 5th in the latest Mountain Region poll following their fourth place finish in the blue division of the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. They are also ranked 25th in the National Coaches' Poll. Southern Utah's women are unranked in the regional poll.
