The University of Minnesota Duluth Cross Country team travels to Illinois for their first out of state meet of the season to take on the Lewis Crossover Invite.

This year's Lewis Invite, hosted by Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois, marks the eighth year of this regional crossover competition. The event will feature a 6,000 meter Women's race and 8,000 meter Men's race on a course described as "relatively flat", a definite change of pace from the uneven hills of the Duluth terrain.

The Bulldogs look to get into championship form in this last event of the season before the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) Championships on October 21. In last year's Lewis Invite, UMD placed second overall in the Women's race with an average time of 22:05. UMD placed 12th overall with an average time of 25:24 in the Men's race.

Yet again, UMD Women's Cross Country will return to an event without their previous highest placing runner. Senior Maddie Verkerke will return as UMD's second place runner from last year where she posted an average mile time of 5:47.0 and a total time of 21:33.9. Other top placing runners from last year's Lewis Invite team will include graduate student Julia Nielsen, sophomore Elizabeth VanLoon, senior Lauryn Renier, junior Savannah Schley, and senior Franny Seidel.

UMD Men's Cross Country returns to the Lewis Crossover at full strength with all of last year's scoring runners. Graduate student Lucas Selman is back as UMD's top scoring runner, posting an average mile time of 5:02.9 and a total time of 25:05.8 in last year's competition. Other top placing runners to look out for include senior Nick Jacobson, senior Owen Dickenson, senior Austin Antony, and senior Jack Van Kempen.

The Lewis Invite will get things going in Illinois on Saturday with the Women's competition starting at 9:45 AM and the Men's competition starting at 10:30 AM. For more information about the event, please visit the event page here.