Big test for BYU at Notre Dame

The BYU women’s cross country team is heading to Indiana this weekend for the 58th Annual Notre Dame Invitational. BYU, ranked No. 28 by the USTFCCCA, will be racing alongside seven other nationally ranked NCAA Division I teams on Friday.

“It’s going to be a great race with some of the top teams.,” head coach Patrick Shane said.  “We’re going to have an opportunity to compete against some great competition.”

Other teams present include No. 2 Florida State, No. 4 Duke, No. 15 New Mexico, No. 19 Notre Dame, No. 20 Butler, No. 24 conference rival San Francisco and No. 30 Princeton.

BYU has a team goal to qualify for NCAA nationals this year and the performance at the Notre Dame Invitational this weekend will be a good indicator of its chances for qualifying. The Cougars have been preparing for this meet all season and throughout summer training.

BYU turned in an impressive performance two weeks ago at the Autumn Classic with the first five Cougars finishing in the top 10 and the first 10 in the top 20. The invitational this weekend will be much deeper and more competition will be a good test of the squad’s talent. 

Runners this weekend include Nicole Nielsen, Lindsey Sowards Nielson, Andrea Nelson Harrison, Natalie Shields, Sarah Yingling, Maren Fassmann, Rachel Stewart, Makenna Smith and Jennica Redd.

The race will take place on Friday afternoon at 4:15 ET. Complete results will be available at UND.com following the final races Friday evening.