After a week off, the ISU women’s cross country team will travel to Lawrence, Kan., on Friday to compete in the Big 12 Championship. The Cyclones will be competing against three teams that are nationally ranked and two others that have been ranked at one point this year.

The Cyclones will run against the favored and perennial power No. 10 Colorado Buffaloes, along with No. 21 Texas Tech and No. 30 Baylor. Oklahoma State and Nebraska have both been rated at different points in the season and are among the candidates for a top-half finish.

Coach Dick Lee said an ideal finish would be sixth or seventh.

“That would be a great finish for us, but you never know what will happen with another place or two above that,” Lee said.

Lee said it is going to come down to who runs well on Friday.

“There will probably be about six teams battling for the six to 11 spots,” Lee said. “Whoever runs the best will be on the top end, and we hope it’s us.”

Senior Meredith McKean said the team’s goal of placing in the top half is completely attainable.

“I think that we’ve really improved over last year,” McKean said. “I think that we’ve done really well this year as well.”

The Cyclones finished ninth as a team last year.

Sophomore Lisa Koll has had several top-10 finishes this year and will look for another one in this meet.

Koll said a top-five finish is her goal and that she is using this meet as preparation for regionals in two weeks where a high finish could qualify her for nationals.

“There will be some good runners at Big 12s that will be at regionals and that I will have to beat to qualify for nationals,” Koll said. “It will be a good place to see where I’m at compared to them and, if I do well, people will be looking out for me instead of me looking out for them.”

Koll was the top finishing Cyclone last year with a 27th-place finish.