The BYU men's and women's cross country teams will spend the weekend in Greensville, S.C. getting to know the course they expect to run on November 19.
The two teams will be competing in the Pre-National Invitational on the same course that the NCAA Championships will be held on November 19.
The race gives the Cougars a chance to get to know their course as well as some of their competition at the championship. But the teams won't get to run against all the top teams as has happened in the past.
"They are going to divide the top forty teams into two different races, so we won't be running against everyone at the race," women's head coach Patrick Shane said. "That gives unranked teams a chance to run against some of the top teams and possibly earn an at-large bid to the championships."
Both BYU teams are ranked in the top 20 in their respective polls, the women are ranked fourth and the men are ranked 17th, as the teams go to Greensville.
"This is our last big meet beforethe Mountain West Conference Championships," men's head coach Ed Eyestone said. "We'd like to run well as a team and improve our national ranking because I believe we are a top-ten team."
The two teams will take a week off after competing in the Pre-National Invitational to prepare for the Mountain West Conference championships, which will be held in Albuquerque, N.M. on Oct. 27