As the men’s cross country team spends the weekend training, the women’s team will head northwest to the SDSU Invitational on Saturday.

Men’s coach Corey Ihmels decided Wednesday to keep his runners in Ames instead of going to Brookings, S.D.

“We’re better off training and getting ready for our meet in Wisconsin [on Oct.15],” Ihmels said. “We trained hard on Tuesday and Wednesday and we’ll fit this in as a training week. After doing an 8K [last weekend at the Roy Griak Invitational], it’s tough to recover.”

The women will face some stiff competition for the second week in a row. Division I teams Minnesota, Nebraska, Drake and Northern Iowa will compete, as will Division II schools such as University of South Dakota.

South Dakota State is in the process of making the transition to Division I and it is unable to compete at the Division I Championships.

“There’s a four-year window of change to a Division I school,” said women’s coach Dick Lee. “Last year was their first year.”

After racing against nearly 300 runners at the Griak, a field of roughly 100 runners will come as a relief to the Cyclone women, Lee said.

“We don’t want to go into a meet as big as last weekend’s,” he said.

“We also drop down to a 5K from a 6K last weekend.”

Lee said last week’s meet will come in handy down the road, but not Saturday.

“You can’t learn from a meet of that size. It’s a completely different scenario,” he said. “Last week’s experience will help us more for regionals than for right now.”

Because of illnesses, several of the competitors will be race-day decisions. Junior Jenny Mockler is expected to race for the first time this season because of illness and a calf injury.

“We’re dealing with each individual because everybody’s at a different level of development,” Lee said. “Team-wise, we’re pulling towards a better showing since last weekend.”

A pleasant surprise for the women’s team has been freshman Lisa Koll of Fort Dodge. Koll has been the top female performer in both the ISU Open and the Griak Invitational this season.

“We knew coming in that she’d have a chance of running very well,” Lee said. “Some adjust right away from high school to college and I think that’s her case. She’s made a quick adjustment.”