TAMPA - The University of South Florida men's and women's cross country teams head north to Pennsylvania Friday to compete in the 36th annual Paul Short Invitational hosted by Lehigh.
"Everyone is ready to go," said assistant coach Dena Reif. "They are excited to be making their first extended trip of the year. They are feeling well and ready to run."
The women will be one of 41 teams running in the meet's gold division in the 6k at 11:45 a.m., the first and only time this year the team will run a 6k before the BIG EAST Championships. The team finished 14th at last year's Paul Short meet.
"We look to at least repeat that performance or do even better this year," said Reif.
Meanwhile, the men are set to run in the 8k brown division beginning at 12:15 p.m. A total of more than 110 schools on both the men's and women's side are set to compete all together on Lehigh's Goodman Cross Country Course.
"We are looking to finish in the top 10 of our division," said Reif. The Bulls will compete against 38 other squads in the brown division.
The women will compete fresh off their regional ranking this week, as the Bulls currently sit 10th in the USTFCCCA South Region rankings released Monday. Among the national standings, six BIG EAST teams were ranked in the top 30, tied for the most with the Big Ten.
Two of those top-ranked BIG EAST teams will compete in the Invitational, with No. 4 West Virginia and No. 5 Villanova slated to run in the gold division as well.
"This will be the first time we will compete against some of the conference teams, so we are excited to gage where we stand with them," said Reif.
The Bulls will hit the course after last competing in the Mountain Dew Invitational Sept. 18 at Florida. The women took third out of a total of 23 teams behind the University of Tampa and the No. 14 Gators. The men, meanwhile, finished eighth out of 18 teams.
Individually, sophomore Nicole Rozario was the top finisher for the Bulls, taking 10th out of 228 athletes. Sophomore Phillip Wise grabbed the top spot for the Bulls, taking 25th.
The Invitational marks the first of three-straight weeks the Bulls will compete. On October 10, the team makes the short trek up to Orlando to compete in the Disney Invitational beginning at 7:45 a.m.
