The Iowa State women’s cross country has its next crucial test of the season this Friday in South Bend, Indiana.

The Cyclones will travel to Burke Golf Course at The University of Notre Dame to compete in the prestigious Joe Piane Invitational, named after legendary coach who guided the Fighting Irish cross country and track & field teams for 40 years. Piane was recently named to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches’ Association (USTFCCCA) Coaches Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2019.

Iowa State, currently holding the No. 16 ranking in the national polls, will run against some stern competition Friday afternoon as 11 of the current top-30 teams in the country, including top-5 sides New Mexico and defending national champs Colorado.

The Cyclones will run in the “Blue” Division of this year’s meet at 1:00 p.m C.T. over a 5,000m course. The rest of the meet will consist of the following schedule: Men’s “Blue” Division- 1:45 p.m., Women’s and Men’s “Open” Division- 2:30 p.m., Women’s “Gold” Division- 3:15 p.m. and Men’s “Gold” Division- 4 p.m. The teams in the “Blue” or “Gold” are limited to eight runners per gender, while an additional seven runners per gender are allowed in the Open Division race.

Coach Amy Rudolph’s squad will look to a balance of both youthful and experienced athletes for some big-race exposure before the postseason which begins next month.

Leading the way for the Cyclones will be senior Abby Caldwell, junior Gwynne Wright and freshman Madelynn Hill, all three of whom finished in the top-10 at Iowa State’s last meet, the Hawkeye Invitational back on Sept. 6th.

With Caldwell finishing as individual champion in the inaugural contest of the year, the Cyclones opened their season with a second place team finish in Iowa City. Iowa State lost by only 11 points in the overall team standings to in-state rival Iowa.

The Cyclones have had nearly a month’s rest to prepare for this meet, and will round out their regular season on Oct. 18th at the prestigious Wisconsin Nuttycombe Invitational in Madison Wisconsin.

Women’s “Blue” Division Teams:

-Alabama

-Arizona

-Auburn

-#25 Boston College

-Bradley

-#1 Colorado

-Colorado State

-#17 Florida State

-Indiana

-Iowa

-#16 Iowa State

-#29 Minnesota

-#8 North Carolina State

-#2 New Mexico

-North Carolina

-#12 Notre Dame

-#14 Ole Miss

-Purdue

-Southern Utah

-Utah

-Utah Valley

-#6 Washington

-Weber State

-#9 Wisconsin