The NCAA cross country weekend starts early once again this Friday, as two of the deepest events in the country, the Notre Dame and Washington Invitationals, will make you want to leave work at noon and get a head start on your XC festivities. 

 

The races out in Seattle start in the late afternoon, so the pseudo-PAC-12 preview out at UW tomorrow may not interrupt anyone’s schedule besides those on the West Coast, but for everyone looking to stay up-to-date on all the happenings in South Bend, you’ll have to sneak Twitter updates as you count down the hours in your cubicle: the races at Notre Dame kick off at 1:00pm CT. If you can’t get away during this time you’re in luck- we’ll have archived races from South Bend, two highly competitive battles on both the men’s and women’s side that feature a combined 10 ranked schools. 

 

If that doesn’t get you pumped for Notre Dame, just know this: the #1 ranked New Mexico Lady Lobos are bringing their full arsenal on Friday to make their highly anticipated debut, and we’re expecting a low score and some crazy fast times on this historically quick course. Add that to the Kolas points grab-bag that is the men’s race, and you should just go ahead and plan on staying in Friday night once we get these races on the site. 

 

Here’s what you should expect tomorrow on the campus of Notre Dame: 

 

Women’s Blue 5K (1:00 pm CT) - #1 New Mexico Begins Road To Louisville

All the hype and all the talent will come together for the first time on Friday for the #1 ranked New Mexico Lady Lobos, who will kick off their highly anticipated season in South Bend. Joe Franklin’s squad was third at NCAAs last fall, but 2015 comes with much more lofty expectations as the Lobos have bolstered their title hopes with the addition of All-American UMKC transfer Courtney Frerichs (#3 Saucony Flo50) and British import Rhona Auckland (#1 Saucony Flo50) the latter of which having a 19th place finish at the 2015 World XC Championships to her credit.

RELATED: Check out the latest release of the Saucony Flo50 Rankings!

The Lobos round out their “Fab Four” of sorts with returning All-American Alice Wright (20th at NCAA XC) and outdoor All-American Calli Thackery, who finished sixth this past spring in the NCAA 5,000m. Both Wright and Thackery finished top 10 at Notre Dame last fall, helping New Mexico to a dominating team win in South Bend. With their added firepower, the Lobos will be expected to thrash the competition once again, as curious eyes are waiting to see just how good this group really is. 

If you haven't already, check out our series on the #1 New Mexico Lobos. Here's the trailer:
 

I would be remiss not to mention the home team. The #7 Fighting Irish are led by senior Molly Seidel, who was the surprising NCAA 10K champion in June and should enter this fall with a little extra swagger because of that. If you remember, Seidel tracked down the hard-pressing Emma Bates in Eugene after the latter dropped a blistering 66-second lap with a mile to go, a move that Seidel quickly exploited. With her NCAA title and a 19th place finish in Terre Haute last fall, the former Foot Locker champ has the best shot of any to break the dreaded curse of past FL champions this November. Seidel was 5th at this meet in 2014. 

RELATED: Watch Molly Seidel win the 2015 NCAA 10K title

 

Speaking of past Foot Locker champions, the Irish bring in two-time national champion Anna Rohrer, who won her collegiate opener two weekends ago at the National Catholic Cross Country Invitational. This race will be a tremendous step up in competition from her previous effort, however, so it will be interesting to see if Coach Matt Sparks has her hang back from the lead or if he takes the reigns off and lets her go. Rohrer enters this weekend ranked #17 in the Saucony Flo50, with five ladies listed ahead of her toeing the line in South Bend. 

 

One freshman that likely won’t be hanging back at all is N.C. State’s Ryen Frazier, runner-up behind Rohrer at Foot Locker in 2014. Frazier turned a lot of heads by scorching a 16:06 5K PR at the adidas XC Challenge to kick off her collegiate career, obliterating Juliet Bottoroff’s previous course record set in 2013 by 22-seconds. The freshman’s performance two weeks ago takes on a little extra meaning heading into this race considering that Bottorff went on to win the Notre Dame Invite in her next outing that year; could Frazier follow suit tomorrow? It seems unlikely given the firepower up front, but that 16:06 doesn’t eliminate the possibility. 

 

One last thing to follow will be the top freshman battle between Rohrer and Frazier. Although the N.C. State frosh seemingly has the upper hand considering her fast opener (Rohrer’s debut was a controlled 17:20), it should be noted that Rohrer has never lost to her counterpart in a distance over 1-mile. The last time these two met on the XC course in January, Rohrer beat Frazier by a resounding 35-seconds. Considering that this is a home meet for Rohrer and old rivalries die hard, expect these two to go at it tomorrow.

Remember this dandy? Watch Rohrer and Frazier battle in the New Balance Nationals Indoor 5K last March, with Rohrer winning in a national record 16:10: 

Men’s Blue 8K (1:45 pm CT) - Dear Bubble Teams, Get Your Kolas Points Here 

What the men’s race lacks in top-tier teams, it makes up for in competitiveness, as four teams ranked between 19th-24th in the Saucony Flo50 will line up in South Bend. All four of those teams, Southern Utah, UTEP, New Mexico, and Colorado State, are in the Mountain region, so this meet will be especially important as they try to accumulate enough Kolas points to grab an NCAA birth in November. All four of these teams were NCAA qualifiers last season out of a Mountain region that brought seven squads to Terre Haute. 

 

I’m looking at Southern Utah to be the team to beat at Notre Dame. The 19th-ranked Thunderbirds were only 2nd last weekend at Griak to a surprising Michigan State team, but they ran up front early with two freshman in their top four before ultimately tailing off in the later stages of the race. The hilly Griak course is a rough introduction to collegiate racing, but I expect the flat terrain at Notre Dame to be much more accommodating for their talented newcomers. SUU is led by senior Hayden Hawks, who was 10th at Griak. 

 

The #24 Colorado State Rams don’t have the depth of Southern Utah, but they pack a powerful 1-2 punch with Jefferson Abbey and Jerrell Mock. The pair swept the top two places at Griak on Saturday, and should be in a position to improve their team finish from last week (4th at Griak) with the return of sophomore Grant Fischer. Fischer, who shares a name wilth a talented Stanford frosh, was the Rams #3 man at regionals last fall. This group is certainly on the up, and if last week didn’t prove that then tomorrow should. 

 

We’ll know a lot more about the teams from New Mexico and UTEP after tomorrow. The Lobos were 14th at NCAAs in 2014, but they lost 5 of their top seven from last season to graduation and will count on a slew of transfers to fill the void. Led by 2014 holdovers and track specialists Elmar Engholm and Matthew Bergin, the Lobos should excel on Friday on the quick Notre Dame course. Bergin was 8th in the British Championships 5K on July 4th, ahead of former Lobo stars Jake Shelley and Luke Caldwell. 

 

Don’t forget about UTEP. They may only have six men on their roster, but led by four-time NCAA champion and 2013 Notre Dame Invite winner Anthony Rotich, the Miners are sneaky good. The senior Rotich is currently our #2 individual in the Saucony Flo50 and has consistently fared well throughout his career on fast courses, including a fourth place finish at NCAAs in 2012 in Louisville. With his potential to win tomorrow, and the Miners adding 1:46 800 guy Jonah Koech, this team of Kenyans could surprise their Mountain counterpars after finishing 27th at NCAAs last season. 

UTEP senior Anthony Rotich loves a fast cross country course.  Rotich won the 2013 Notre Dame Invite and returns this year as the favorite

The individual battle will be loaded up front, as Rotich enters as the favorite, but certainly is not unbeatable. Last year’s runner-up at Notre Dame, Erik Peterson, will turnaround after a victory last weekend at the competitive Virginia Panorama Invitational and look to challenge the mighty Rotich, while Indiana State’s John Mascari and Penn’s Tommy Awad also figure to have a say in the matter. Peterson redshirted this spring on the track but dropped an impressive 28:26 10K at Payton Jordan nonetheless, second-best for all American collegians in 2015.

 

All four men are seniors and all have at least one NCAA XC All-American honor to his credit. If this race was 2K longer I might be tempted to give the nod to Mascari, who was 8th at NCAAs last fall, but given the difficulty of the course, or lack thereof, I’m taking Rotich here. Should be very entertaining, though.