Sept. 30, 2004

EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern women's cross country team is bringing every available runner to Peoria Friday for the Bradley Cross Country Classic. However, the mission for the Wildcats' top group will be pretty obvious.

It is time to see what they are in for.

With the calendar turning to October -- and the Big Ten Championships, the first of the season's championship races, suddenly less than a month away -- Friday afternoon's race will be a good test to see where the Wildcats stack up against some regional competition. The other teams involved in Friday's race are Big Ten foe Illinois, as well as host Bradley and Northern Illinois.

The race will also provide the women a chance to see the course they will run at the regional championships in November. Friday's race will be a 6K, and it is slated to start at 4 p.m. on the Newman Golf Course.

"That is the reason we are going," said NU head coach Amy Tush. "We are going to have an opportunity to see the course and run on it competitively. We also get to see how we match up with a Big Ten team in Illinois, and a few other regional competitors. I hope to see us race competitively Friday."

Tush is certainly hoping for a better run than last week's Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, which saw the Wildcats get swallowed up by a huge field and finish 21st out of 29 teams.

"I think we lost our focus last weekend a little bit," she said. "We got lost in all the packs that were out there. This week's race should be more manageable, we will be able to see our teammates ahead of us and see the course. We are hoping to go out and run better."