The Iowa cross-country teams will resume action this weekend when they head to Minnesota to compete at the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday.

The meets will be held at the Les Bolstad Golf Course, with the women running a 6,000-meter race and the men running a 8,000-meter race. The men’s race will begin at approximately 12:20 p.m., and the women will start at 1:20 p.m.

The women’s team will head into the meet on Saturday ranked No. 15 in the Midwest region. The Hawkeyes will have the chance to compete against several top-30 teams, including Minnesota and Iowa State and will also have the opportunity to score points toward an NCAA at-large consideration. The meet will be the Hawks’ first NCAA scoring event of the season.

The same is true for the men’s squad, which will run against BYU (No. 4), North Carolina State (No. 24), Syracuse (No. 9), and Arizona State (No. 29).

The Black and Gold women will lean heavily on their freshman class to carry them, something that has become a trend.

Freshman Katie Adams, Samantha Zishka, and Tess Wilberding will try to make an impact. Adams finished in the top five for the Hawkeyes in the Early Bird Invitational in August, while Zishka and Wilberding each earned top-five finishes for the Hawkeyes in the Black and Gold Invitational two weeks ago.

The men’s team will feature freshman standout Kevin Docherty, as well as juniors Kevin Lewis and Ben Witt, who finished at the top for the Hawks at their last meet.

“This is one of those meets where you see where your team is at, see how your team stacks up against some of the best teams,” Witt said.

It’s considered a challenging meet not only because of the competition but because the race is an 8K, 2K longer than anything the Iowa men have ran so far this year.

“It definitely spreads out the race more,” Lewis said. “In the shorter events, everyone is able to cover it in about the same time. The extra 2K really lengthens the gap.”

How some of the harriers run down the stretch could be critical for the team’s success. While the younger runners have looked good in the first two meets, this weekend will show how they can hold up against nationally ranked opponents.

“It’s a big weekend for us,” head coach Larry Wieczorek said. “It’s taking a step forward as a team; now, we can execute in a higher level of competition.”