TOLEDO, OH - The University of Toledo men's and No. 32-ranked women's cross country teams head to Terra Haute, IN on Saturday for the annual NCAA Pre-Nationals meet. The Rockets will compete in the "White" race, as well as the Open race, and see how they stack up against 18 of the top-30 men's and women's programs in the nation.

The Pre-National meet will be one of the toughest tests of the year for the Rockets, who will match up with some of the top programs in the country. On the women's side, the No. 32 Rockets will face off with No. 37 Arizona State, No. 9 Colorado, No. 27 Florida, No. 5 Georgetown, No. 31 Harvard, No. 19 Michigan, No. 26 Minnesota, No. 17 Stanford, No. 12 Stony Brook, and Ohio from the MAC in the "White" race. Leading the way for the women is two-time MAC Runner of the Week Ari Fisher, who has already registered a victory over ranked competition with her first-place finish in the Richard Clark Invitational, defeating the top runners from No. 4 Texas Tech. 

The UT men's team, who earlier in the season reached No. 15 in the Great Lakes regional rankings, will match up with No. 24 Alabama, No. 31 Arizona State, No. 19 BYU, No. 4 Colorado, No. 22 Georgetown, No. 33 Iowa State, No. 25 Minnesota, No. 28 Notre Dame, No. 16 Oklahoma, No. 8 Portland, No. 36 Providence, No. 21 Tulsa, and MAC rivals Ohio and Central Michigan, also in the "White" race. The men will be led by junior captain Jonathan DeWitt, who was named MAC Runner of the Week when he helped the men finish 16th in the Roy Griak Invitational and defeat MAC counterpart Central Michigan for the first time in program history.

Historically, the Rockets have been one of the top MAC and mid-major programs to compete at the Pre-NCAA Invitationals. No MAC school has recorded a better performance than the 12th-place finish that the Toledo women authored in 2002, when Briana Shook took 10th place overall in a performance that helped push the Rockets to No. 26 ranking in the nation and a second-consecutive MAC title.

The 2001 race featured a 13th-place showing by the Rockets, who defeated No. 25 Baylor for the program's first victory over a ranked opponent. Toledo wound up finishing fourth at the NCAA Regionals that fall. That squad was led by Shook, Petra Teveli and current assistant coach Sara Vergote. The 2003 campaign saw Toledo take 17th at the Pre-NCAA Invitationals, even competing without their top runner, Everlyne Lagat.

The women's 6K "White" race will begin at 11:35 a.m. and the men's 8K "White" race will start at 12:50 p.m. The Rockets will also participate in the Open race, which begins at 1:30 p.m. (women) and 2:05 p.m. (men).