Women's 6000m Race: Friday, 5:15pm CT

Three of the best teams in the Pac-12 Conference and entire U.S. will take to the Jefferson Park Golf Course tomorrow in Seattle, Wash., for the Washington Invitational.

No. 2 Oregon, No. 3 Stanford and No. 16 Washington will preview the site of the November NCAA West Regional and debut a few of their top athletes. For Oregon and Stanford, this will be a good sign of whether their Saucony Flo50 top ranking is accurate, as we have yet to see complete squads from these teams.

RELATED: ENTRIES, WASHINGTON XC INVITATIONAL

Oregon makes the trip from Eugene and will debut 10K All American Molly Grabill and Australian newcomer Jessica Hull. At only 18, Hull competed at the IAAF World XC Championships last March.

Last year the Ducks were victorious, led by Frida Berge and Grabill. Add in a healthy Waverly Neer and NCAA 1500m qualifier Alli Cash and the Ducks could show us that magical pack running that won them Pac-12 and NCAA Regional titles in 2014.

Stanford won their home invite last weekend but the Washington race should give us a look at their squad full strength. Last year’s individual race winner Elise Cranny will make her season debut, as well as 15:54 5000m runner Vanessa Fraser. Former Footlocker champion Aisling Cuffe is expected to run, as well. Cuffe ran controlled in the early season Fresno State Invite and this race could prove whether Cranny and Cuffe make as good of a 1-2 punch as we think they will. The Cardinal star freshman class of Hannah Long, Catherine Pagano and Canadian Claire Smith may also debut in this 6000m contest.

Or will it be the home team Huskies who rise to the challenge of hosting two of the NCAA’s best teams. Washington will be led by All American Maddie Meyers, who was followed closely by freshman Charlotte Prouse at the Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 19. 

Are the Rosas Healthy? How Good Are Oregon's Anderson and Maton?: Questions to be Answered in the Highly Competitive Men's Race

Men's 8000m Race: Friday, 6:00pm CT

Five Saucony Flo50 top 25 teams and three top 16 individuals will compete in the men’s race, including the defending NCAA champion himself, Edward Cheserek. No. 2 Stanford, No. 8 Oregon, No. 11 Portland, No. 12 BYU, No. 15 UCLA, as well as No. 17 Washington headline the men’s 8000m race.

While we won’t see Grant Fisher, or likely last week’s Stanford Invite champion Sean McGorty, though he is entered, the Cardinal team will race Jim and Joe Rosa. Jim has not competed in cross country since he finished fifth in the 2013 NCAA race. Joe was third in last fall’s Pac-12 race and 33rd at NCAAs. After disappearing during track season, are the Rosas finally healthy? And will this race impact whether Fisher redshirts this fall? Considering that this is the Rosa’s final year of eligibility, if healthy, this team would probably need Fisher to close to gap (33 points last year) between Colorado and Stanford in November.

Besides the obviously Cheserek, Oregon will race their likely No. 2 Jake Leingang, Georgetown transfer Ryan Gil, and freshman Tanner Anderson and Matthew Maton. Gil was the Hoya’s fifth man in Terre Haute last fall and will provide some much needed depth to Duck team. Anderson, the reigning NXN Champion, and Maton, a sub-4 minute miler, were huge recruits for the Ducks, but how will they fare in the longer distance? Fisher debuted in 8K last weekend in 23:33 in Palo Alto, so let's use that as a benchmark for this elite freshman class.

RELATED: FULL SAUCONY FLO50 RANKINGS

The Portland Pilots will race their 2014 No. 3 Timo Goehler and No. 4 Danny Martinez and newcomer Chris Enriquez, a transfer from Long Beach State. They have an excellent reputation at the NCAA Championships, but they have a lot of question marks on their team now.

BYU, UCLA and Washington could prove they deserve a better ranking after this highly competitive race. While Wisconsin and Pre-Nats weekend is usually the big kicker, adding Oregon and BYU into this race makes it better than last year’s, where Villanova’s Patrick Tiernan blew away the field by running 23:00. Will Ches run that fast? It’s unlikely. This field has all the tools to make a great race, fast or tactical, so prepare yourselves to analyze the results Friday evening.