2013 Women's Cross Country Schedule

INDIANAPOLIS - The IUPUI Athletics Department and Head Women's Cross Country Coach Antonio McDaniel announced the team's 2013 schedule on Monday (July 15), highlighted by three meets inside state lines this season. 

All total, the Jaguars are slated to compete seven times, including return trips to the IPFW Invitational, Indiana Intercollegiates and Bradley Classic from a year ago. McDaniel's squad will open the 2013 season at the Dayton Flyer 5K Challenge on Aug. 31 in Kettering, Ohio before running its first of two meets this season in Fort Wayne. The Jaguars will compete in the Sept. 14 IPFW Invitational before later running The Summit League Championships on the same course on Nov. 2. 

"We open up at Dayton, but some of our top runners may rest up. We want to see who is going to step up for that 4-through-7 position and this will be an opportunity for some girls to show us where they sit," McDaniel said. "The IPFW meet is important because they will host The Summit League (Championships). We want to run the course before the championships and get a good feel for it."

Other regular season meets include the Indiana Intercollegiates (Sept. 20) in Bloomington, followed by the Greater Louisville Classic (Oct. 5) and Bradley Classic (Oct. 18). After The Summit League Championships, IUPUI will then run in the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Meet at the University of Wisconsin on Nov. 15. 

"(Indiana) Intercollegiates will be at IU and will be our first major meet of the season. We'll be shooting for a top five finish," McDaniel said. "Then, we will return to Bradley and hope for another great performance. The overall focus will be on what we need to do to improve at The Summit League Championships. All of our meets will be stepping stones to that meet."

The Jaguars placed 13th at the Bradley meet last season and had a one-through-five gap of just 26 seconds. Then-freshmen Leah Brooks, Lexi Hunt and Julie Riggins all had strong races, all finishing among the top 90 in that meet. 

McDaniel's squad is expected to be led by fifth-year senior Rachel Zajac, who missed all of last season due to injury. The St. John, Ind.-native was a Second Team All-Summit Leaguer in 2011 and holds the program's 6K record, having run 21:50.3 at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional that season. 

Junior Jordan Hanaway is coming off a strong track season after running just four of six cross country meets last year. Other key returners include junior Amy Mattingly and sophomores Brooks, Hunt and Riggins. The team's depth will be bolstered by redshirt freshmen Sydney Chapman and Katie Williams, while the incoming freshman class is keyed by Mandy Campbell, Jennifer Emery and Savannah Turner.