GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota men and women's cross country teams will host the 15th annual Ron Pynn Classic on Saturday, their last meet before competing at the Big Sky Conference Championship on Oct. 28th. in Moscow, Idaho.
“This meet is our last tune-up before the conference meet,” said head coach Dick Clay. “We are coming off some illness and injury, and we are looking forward to using this meet to prepare for what's to come.”
On the men's side, Clay says he's looking for his runners to work as a team to see some improvement.
“Our front runners need to continue to move the pack forward and the back half needs to work on closing the gap.”
On the women's side, senior Lydia Lutz has been working her way back after injury and is expected to perform well.
“Lydia has the potential to take the top spot,” said Clay. “Her training has been going well and depending on how she's feeling she should do great.”
With the conference meet only two weeks away, other athletes are looking to earn their spots in the top-eight.
“There are three or four girls fighting for that eighth spot,” said Clay. “There is a bit of friendly rivalry and they can use that to push each other this weekend.”
With two young teams, Clay sees a lot of room for learning and improvement. After competing at the Montana State Invitational back in September, he says the teams have been working on improving their first-mile times.
“That meet was a good chance for us to get a feel of our conference competitors,” said Clay. “We recognized we needed to work on that first-mile time and we saw improvement at the South Dakota State Classic. Hopefully we can see even more improvement this weekend.”
UND will be hosting North Dakota State in a dual meet, although entries from the University of Manitoba and Trinity Bible College will also participate.
“The UND/NDSU rivalry is always fun,” said Clay. “Last year there was only a difference of a few points, so it will be an extra push for us.”
The women's race begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Ray Richards Golf Course on Saturday, Oct. 15th. The men's race will follow starting at 12:15 p.m.
