SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The IUPUI men's and women's cross country teams will both be taking part against strong fields as both teams participate in the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday afternoon. The women's Gold Division race is set to run at 2:00 p.m. while the men's Gold Division race will start at 2:45 p.m.. The day's events will also include an open/JV race at 3:30 p.m., followed by the women's Blue Division at 4:15 p.m. and men's Blue Division at 5:00 p.m..

Both the men's and women's teams will be running in the gold division races.

The women's team is coming off a great week of training and has been led in both earlier races this season by junior Rachel Zajac. Zajac ran a season-best 18:42 5K at the Indiana Intercollegiates on Sept. 16 and owns IUPUI's two quickest times of the year. Classmate Rebecca Downs has given Head Coach Antonio McDaniel a steady No. 2 this season and freshman Jordan Hanaway is the only other Jag to have placed among IUPUI's top five in the other two early season meets. Senior Ana Paez is slowly rounding into form, having run 19:22 at the Indiana Intercollegiates meet.

The women's team finished 11th of 19 teams last season with 263 points.

On the men's ledger, Head Coach Chuck Koeppen has relied heavily on his outstanding freshman class in the early going this season. Rookie Zane Cooperider has been IUPUI's top finisher in the past two races after freshman Spencer Burgin paced the team at the season-opening Dayton Flyer 5K Challenge. Cooperider ran a freshman record 24:52.19 8K at the EIU Walt Crawford Open and followed that up with a 25:41 at the challeging IU Varsity Course at the Indiana Intercollegiates Meet. Junior #J.D. Smith has been the Jags' No. 2 runner the past two meets and sophomore Dustin Neff and Pryce Ragains# have also been among the scoring five.

Koeppen's squad placed ninth last season and senior Aaron Kremer finished sixth overall in a time of 25:17.

The meet will be held at the Notre Dame Golf Course, located on the Southwest corner of campus. The field includes Bradley, Calvin College, Central Michigan, Eastern Illinois, Grand Valley State, Hillsdale, UIC, Indiana State, IPFW, Northwestern, Oakland, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, Stevens Point, Valparaiso, Western Illinois, Western Michigan and Youngstown State.