Lansing Sun

After a two-week hiatus, the Michigan State cross country team is set to compete at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite in South Bend, Indiana, on Friday. The event will take place at Burke Golf Course and will feature multiple races for both men's and women's divisions.

The competition schedule begins with the Women's Blue Division 5,000m Race at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Men's Blue Division 8,000m Race at 11:15 a.m. Subsequent races include Open and Gold divisions for both men and women throughout the day.

Michigan State's women's team enters the event ranked No. 18 nationally and will face top-ranked teams such as No. 1 Northern Arizona, No. 3 Notre Dame, and No. 6 BYU in their division. The men's team is also preparing to compete against strong opponents including No. 2 BYU, No. 4 Northern Arizona, and No. 6 Notre Dame.

In their last outing on September 13 at the Spartan Invitational, Michigan State achieved victories in both men's and women's races. The women's team narrowly defeated Grand Valley State with Sophia Lucki leading her teammates by finishing first with a time of 21:36.1 in the 6K race. Eleanor Kendall followed closely behind in fourth place with a personal best of 21:39.8.

The men's team secured first place as well with Alexander Penski placing second overall at a time of 24:43.5 in his race, just behind Caleb Futter from Grand Valley State who clocked in at 24:42.3.

Both teams are expected to have athletes participating in Open division races during this upcoming meet.