Central Michigan University Athletics
Cross Country Runs at Oakland on Friday
10/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Nate Perry, CMUChippewas
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — The Central Michigan men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Oakland on Friday to take part in their final preparatory meet before the Pre-National Invitational next weekend.
The race will be run "half-distance," meaning the men will run four of the standard eight kilometers, while the women will run three of the usual six.
It will also be the Chippewas' second dual meet of the year, as they will go head-to-head with the Golden Grizzlies in what has developed into a friendly annual training session for both clubs.
CMU coach Matt Kaczor worked as an assistant at OU under Paul Rice, who is in his 15th season as the Grizzlies' head coach.
"Paul and I are really good friends and our runners know their runners really well," Kaczor said. "We always have a home-and-home during indoor and outdoor track too, so we see them a lot and we're pretty close."
Friendships aside, there is still plenty for both of Kaczor's teams to work on.
"It's just a chance to get our bearings straight and work out some kinks since the guys didn't get the gap we wanted at Notre Dame," he said. "And on the women's side, it's going to be a lot like the Spartan (Invitational) where we're looking at our depth and trying to see where our number four and five runners will be."
The top three runners on the women's team -- Kelly Schubert, Kirsten Olling and Megan O'Neil -- will not run this week, while the men will once again compete with their full arsenal.
The young athletes on the men's team who are currently redshirting will also run the race unattached.
The first race is scheduled for a start time of 4 p.m.
The Pre-National is next weekend at Indiana State in Terre Haute, Ind.
Players Mentioned
