Several of America's top college teams coming Friday for Pre-Nats at Gibson course

Numerous college cross country teams ranked among the Top 25 in the NCAA Division I ranks are entered in the Under Armour Pre-National Invitational, which unfolds at LaVern Gibson Championship Course on Friday morning.The site of the annual Pre-National meet — traditionally, a tuneup for the NCAA championships — rotates to whichever course is hosting that year's national championship. And, the NCAA DI championships return to the Gibson Course on Nov. 21. Terre Haute has been the site of the nationals 13 times previously.Pre-National races allow top teams and runners to get acclimated to the NCAA Championship course, should they qualify for the nationals. As of last Friday, 51 men's teams and 65 women's teams were entered in the Pre-Nats field, according to ISU, the host school.ISU coach Brad Butler's Indiana State team traveled last year to the Pre-Nationals at Missouri, in hopes of preparing the Sycamores for the 2026 race and its competition level."I wanted to get that experience for all of our runners because none of them have competed at Pre-Nats before," Butler said.This Friday's Pre-National races are set for 10 a.m. for the women's 6-kilometer race at 10 a.m., followed by the men's 8K at 10:40 a.m.The Indiana State teams will follow Friday's Pre-Nationals by competing in the Missouri Valley Conference Championships on Oct. 30 at Des Moines, Iowa.Butler considers his team's most recent performance at Notre Dame to their best of the season. Emerson Fayman of the men's squad earned ISU Athlete of the Week for his effort at South Bend. Brittany Burak also received the same honor for the ISU women after one of her races earlier this season.As the Sycamores finished 15th on the women’s side and 14th on the men’s side at the Notre Dame Joe Piane Invitational last Friday, Fayman and Burak both cracked the field's top 50. Fayman ran a career-best 8K in 24 minutes, 7 seconds for 35th. Burak ran a career-best 5k time of 17:02.8 to finish 41st."[We] had some really good performances," Butler said. "Last week at practice was really good."While hot temperatures on Monday and Tuesday in Terre Haute were a practice consideration for the Sycamores, Butler expects cooler temps near Pre-Nationals day. "[It] looks like good weather for the weekend," Butler said. "Friday morning looks like it's going to be nice."The National Weather Service forecast calls for partly sunny skies and a high temperature near 62, following a 30% chance of showers before 8 a.m., with northwest winds 18 to 20 mph.Butler said both his women's and men's teams are ready for the tough competition, especially on their home course. Several nationally ranked teams, as well as those regionally ranked, will be taking part in the meet Friday morning."We're excited for the competition and excited that they're coming here to Terre Haute," Butler said.Among the participating teams (as of last Friday), those rated in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 include men's squads from No. 9 Syracuse, No. 14 Notre Dame, No. 20 Utah Valley, No. 24 Villanova and No. 25 Arizona; and women's squads from top-ranked North Carolina State, No. 2 Brigham Young, No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 18 North Carolina, No. 20 Toledo and No. 25 Clemson.ISU's runners have dealt with a few injuries, but Butler sees improvement on that issue. "I feel like last week we really turned a corner and we're ready to go," he said.Sycamore runners will compete in races divided into blue and white groups."I think either one is going to be pretty good," Butler said. "Good competition either way."Butler said he wants the Sycamores to beat some regionally ranked teams. He noted there will be some Missouri Valley Conference rivals there as well, including Evansville, Murray State and Southern Illinois, though others could join the field."I don't know how many teams are going to be in each race, if there's 40 in one of them, then [we want to] beat as many as we can," Butler said.