No. 19 USF Women at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisc. Friday, Oct. 14 at 10:30 a.m. PT | Watch live on FloTrack Pro #NuttyInvite

USF Men at the Adidas Pre-National Invitational LaVern Gibson Championship Course in Terre Haute, Ind. Saturday, Oct. 15 at 8:35 a.m. PT | Watch live on FloTrack Pro #PreNats

 
In just seven years, the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational has established itself as one of the nation's premier collegiate meets. Held on the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course, the women's 6K races will include a field of 31 invited teams, and some of the best competition in the country. The No. 19 Dons will race alongside five of the top 10 teams in the land and 17 of the Top 30, including regional competitors No. 4 Washington and No. 10 Boise State, and conference foe No. 15 BYU.

The Dons are traveling 12 women to the meet, their largest contingent to ever compete at the Wisconsin Invitational, and nearly the entirety of the women's roster. USF is looking to garner much-needed points toward qualifying into the national championship field. In the Dons' last point-getting opportunity, USF took sixth in the field at the Roy Griak Invitational, paced by an eighth place finish for senior Charlotte Taylor.

"Our women have come a long way in the past three weeks and we are excited to build upon what we started in Minneapolis," said USF head coach Helen Lehman-Winters. "We are prepared for the strength of this field and look forward to challenging ourselves with many of the nation's best teams. Our women understand that this is the first step in getting us back to the NCAA Championships, and I think they are excited to test their fitness."

The men will take off on Saturday morning, as a preview of the NCAA National Championships course in Terre Haute, Ind. Hosted by Indiana State, the rolling and challenging course will feature 62 teams from across the nation, including No. 4 Oregon, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 Colorado and No. 7 Portland.

The Dons will run seven, headlined by last year's NCAA individual qualifier Alex Short. The senior from Bicknacre, England, has been the top finisher for the men in both USF outings thus far on the season, taking third at the USF Invitational on Sept. 3, and 21st at the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 24. He will be joined at the starting line for the 8K race by Ben Alcock, Mohamed Aziz, Ryan Driscoll, Caleb McClain, Hugh Nicklason and Edward Shepherd. Only Alcock and Nicklason are new to the Dons this season.

"Our men had a rough go at the Griak three weeks ago and had to battle from the back of the pack," noted Lehman-Winters. "I think we learned from this experience, and they are looking forward to a good honest race where they can really show what kind of team we are. It is critical that we get some momentum going into the conference championships."

The men will hope to return to Terra Haute alongside the women for the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19. But first up for the Dons is the West Coast Conference Championships on Oct. 28 in San Diego.