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RICHMOND, Ky. – Fresh off a bye weekend, the Eastern Kentucky University cross country teams will square off against some of the best teams in the nation this Saturday at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind.

The women’s team will compete in the 6K Blue Race at 11:00 a.m. The Blue Race features two of the top ten teams in the country (No. 3 Florida State and No. 6 Arizona) as well as familiar regional foes such as Liberty, Richmond and William and Mary.

The Colonel women have been led by senior Kat Pagano and sophomore Picoty Leitich this season. Pagano has twice been named the OVC Female Runner of the Week in 2010, but Leitich, who won the OVC Championships in 2009, defeated Pagano (by less than a second) for the first time this season at the Greater Louisville Classic on Oct. 2.

The men’s team will compete in the 8K White Race at 12:50 p.m. The White Race also features two of the top ten teams in the country (No. 4 Colorado and No. 8 Portland) along with regional rivals Liberty, NC State (the second-ranked team in the Southeast) and Western Kentucky.

The Colonel men are led by freshman Soufiane Bouchikhi, who finished ninth out of 323 runners at the Greater Louisville Classic on Oct. 2 and has run an 8K as low as 23:17.99 this season. Sophomore Victor Kemboi and senior Evans Kiptoo have been the men’s team’s consistent two and three runners.

The meet will take place at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center, which is also the site of the NCAA Cross Country National Championships to be held Nov. 22.

Other members of the EKU cross country teams will run at the Wilmington College Fall Classic on Friday. The women’s race begins at 4:30 p.m. followed by the men’s race at 5:15 p.m.

Check back to www.ekusports.com for results from both meets.