AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn cross country team will compete at a pair of meets on Friday, Oct. 16 as Tigers will race at the Crimson Classic and Pre-National Invitational. A group of the women will run at the Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Indiana, at 9 a.m. CT with the remaining women’s team and men’s team racing in Tuscaloosa at 8:30 a.m. CT.
The Pre-National Invitational will be held at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, which will host the NCAA Championships later this season, while the Crimson Classic will be ran at the Harry Pritchett Running Track in Tuscaloosa.
“Our women's team has been incredibly impressive this season,” said Coach Kara Foster. “Every race they run, every workout I see them do, we are one step ahead of where I thought we might be. I think this is an exciting opportunity to be in a national-level race.”
Seven of the women will travel to the Hoosier State, including Faith Chelangat, Audrey Dunn, Cady McPhail, Arianna Roy, and Mackenzie Roy along with senior Mary Ellen Eudaly and junior Camila Gomes, who will compete in their first race of the season. The competitive field will have several top-ranked teams, including No. 1 North Carolina State, No. 2 BYU, and No. 6 Notre Dame.
The rest of the team will return to a familiar course to compete in the Crimson Classic. The men will run the 8k at 8:30 a.m., and the women’s 6k will take place at 9:20 a.m.
“It's an exciting race, because it's a course that a lot of them have run on before,” Foster said.
On the men’s side, 2026 SEC runner-up Nickson Chebii, will make his season debut at the Crimson Classic. Last year at the meet, Chebii finished fourth overall.
“It'll be a very exciting race for the men to show how they operate and what they do as a whole squad against a quality team like nationally ranked Alabama. There will be other good teams to race against, and I think they're really excited.”
The women’s team will also have seven runners at the Crimson Classic competing in a field that will include No. 10 Alabama, No. 11 South Carolina, and Mississippi State.
Live results for the NCAA Pre-National can be found at https://live.pttiming.com.
Live results for the Crimson Classic can be found at https://live.pttiming.com.