PROVO -- For the first time this season the Cougars will head north, splitting their teams to compete in the Washington Invitational and against Montana State.
In their true season opener the men and women's distance squad will head to Washington to compete against the top distance teams in the nation including both men and women's 2004 cross country champions Stanford University and top ranked Washington and UCLA.
"In Washington we will compete on an excellent facility, at sea level, against strong competition," men's distance coach Ed Eyestone said. "We will be going against the best distance runners in the country and this weekend will prepare us to come back and compete against them in a few weeks."
The teams plan to run Friday in the Distance Medley Relay (DMR) where they hope to hit NCAA provisional marks on the men's side and possibly national records on the women's.They will then come back Saturday and compete in individual distance events.
Meanwhile the rest of the team members will bus to Montana for an all day competition on Friday.
"We are excited to run at Montana this weekend," women's head coach Craig Poole said. "Besides great competition we also will be able to run on one of the fastest tracks in the nation."
The teams are coming off a strong showing at the Air Force Invitational and look to set new personal records and hit additional NCAA qualifying marks.
"We stand a better chance of performing well this weekend," men's sprint coach Leo Miles-Mills said. "Going to Montana will give these guys a chance to run on a 200-banked oval track which they haven't done yet this season. There will be fast times and everyone is anxious to perform."