KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- For the second consecutive season, the Western Michigan cross country team will host the George Dales Invite. This year's event will take place tomorrow morning at the Prairies Golf Club, with the women's college 6K beginning at 10 AM. The men's 8K will take off at 10:40 AM, with high school girls and high school boys races going off at 11:20 AM and 12 PM, respectively. 

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos had a tremendous first meet of the season, placing second at the Jeff Drenth Memorial. The Brown and Gold were just one point behind Michigan State and more than 10 points better than the third-place team. 

WMU had six runners in the top 25, including Lily Overton, who finished third with a time of 17:32.10. Lara Machado Pereira, Kaelin Hughes and Madison Zarembski were 11th, 12th and 13th respectively. Rounding out the scoring lineup was Rebekah Asselin, who finished 18th. 

LAST YEAR'S EVENT
Western Michigan placed fourth at the George Dales Invite last season, having six runners finish the race in the top 25. Lillian Zelasko finished sixth, while Lara Machado Pereira claimed 16th place. Brooke Soper, Grace Aurand, Lily Overton and Delaney Knoll also claimed top-25 times. 

CLIMBING THE RANKINGS
After being unraked in the region to start the season, WMU exploded onto the scene in its first meet of the season, beating several teams above them in the rankings. That led to a big leap for the Brown and Gold in the new rankings released earlier this week. 

The Broncos jumped all the way to 13th, jumping over Central Michigan and Miami (OH). Western Michigan is the fourth highest rated MAC team in the poll, sitting behind Ohio, Toledo and Bowling Green. 

WHO'S COMPETING? (Denotes PR)
Rebekah Asselin (23:49.0)
Lily Baibak (6K College Debut)
Joy Evans (6K College Debut)
Kaelin Hughes (6K College Debut)
Ava Kurczewski (22:34.6)
Larissa McGrath (22:33.6)
Lara Machado Pereira (21:40.4)
Lily Overton (21:38.7)
Lauren Sancrant (22:01.5)
Madison Zarembski (22:56.8)