When a team is set to compete in a meet with six nationally ranked teams, it helps to have a three-week break before the meet.

That’s the situation the ISU women’s cross country team is in this week as it travels to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the Chile Pepper Invite on Saturday.

The much-needed time off has given two runners who were unable to compete in Iowa State’s previous meet, the Roy Griak Invitational, time to get healthy. Those two runners, seniors Jenny Mockler and Meredith McKean, should be ready to go this week.

Coach Dick Lee said his team is healthy and ready to compete.

“Everyone is doing better and is excited to race now,” Lee said. “The main thing that we are looking for is improvement from the Minnesota meet.”

There are a total of 42 teams competing this weekend, including approximately 25 Division I teams. Six of those Division I teams are nationally ranked, including host team No. 4 Arkansas, No. 15 Oklahoma State, No. 19 Baylor, No. 20 Duke, No. 28 Texas Tech and No. 30 Virginia Tech.

Freshman Paige Ties said the team hopes to shorten the time between runners.

“We were over a minute and a half last time so we would like to see that decrease,” she said. “For me, last time was my first 6K, so I would like to set a PR [personal record] this meet.”

The Cyclones did not run in this meet last year, when Oklahoma State edged out the host school to win the meet.

Freshman Kelsey Bulat said she wants to run her best as she heads into the Big 12 championships on Oct. 27.

“If I perform well at this meet, I’m sure that I will be more positive and confident in the next meet,” Bulat said. “I would like to have a good race so that when Big 12s come around, I will be at the optimum level to compete.”

Lee said the team just keeps pointing toward the big meets following this one.

“We have trained all year for those,” Lee said. “Our season is basically based on how we perform in those last two meets of the year.”

The Cyclones will have a week off after this meet before they travel to Lawrence, Kan., for the Big 12 championships on Oct. 27.