Women's Cross Country | October 03, 2019
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan cross country team resumes action this Friday, heading to the University of Notre Dame for the 64th annual Joe Piane-Notre Dame Invitational, beginning at 1 p.m.
The Broncos have been off for the past three weeks and are ready to get back in competition after a successful Spartan Invitational that saw senior Brittney Hall finish 13th overall in a race that featured 291 runners.
"It gave us a lot of opportunities to work on our weaknesses," said assistant coach Tony Filipek on the long break. "We tried to work a different strategy to approach this race with as well. Our last meet at Michigan State we got well, but probably too well. We're going to work on running intelligently and with control in the first mile and see how many people we can pass in the second mile and have a psychological advantage towards the finish so we aren't fading."
Also returning to action is senior Juliane Sormain. This will be the Cachan, France native's first cross country race since the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship last season. Sormain took 14th overall at the Mid-American Conference Championships and was named Second Team All-MAC last season.
"Juliane is getting more and more fit and we are really hoping that her and Brittney can work together and put the team in a really good spot at the end of the race," added Filipek.
Western Michigan will have runners in both the Blue Division 5k race and the Gold Division 5k races.
"Everything is trending in the right direction and we want to continue that trend. This meet is going to determine who we run at the Pre-Nationals in two weeks. There is a little bit of pressure on the team, but at the same time I think it is good pressure that will get them ready for the larger meets. It will show who has put in the work in order to contribute to the team's success in later meets."
The Broncos have just two more meets before the MAC Championship, the Under Armour Pre-Nationals at Indiana State on Oct. 19 and the EMU Fall Classic on Oct. 25.
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