UW-Oshkosh Ready To Host Stacked Field At DIII Pre-Nationals

One of the biggest races in the NCAA Division III regular season is finally here as the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh is set to host its Kollege Town Sports Invitational on Saturday, October 13 at Lake Breeze Golf Club. The Kollege Town Sports Invitational will serve as the Pre-National meet for the second time in the past four years.

The women’s Pre-National race is set for 9:40 a.m. CT, while the men’s event will follow at 10:20 a.m.

This Kollege Town Invitational marks the 13th consecutive year that UW-Oshkosh has hosted one of the largest meets in the country for NCAA DIII. The meet, which turns into a daylong celebration of cross country, will feature six different races this year with more than 1800 combined athletes competing.

The Pre-National races are the co-main events of the day and has representation from each of the eight NCAA DIII regions. The men’s side has at least one nationally ranked team from each of the eight regions, while the women’s side has a ranked squad from seven of the eight.

The men’s Pre-National race will feature No. 1 North Central (Ill.), No. 3 Pomona-Pitzer, No. 5 Haverford, No. 6 Washington (Mo.), No. 9 Calvin, No. 11 Wartburg, No. 14 MIT, No. 15 University of Chicago, No. 18 UW-Stout, No. 19 Rhodes, No. 20 UW-Eau Claire, No. 20 Carleton, No. 24 Otterbein, No. 27 RIT, No. 31 Emory, No. 32 UW-Stevens Point and No. 33 Washington and Lee.

The women’s side will have No. 2 Washington (Mo.), No. 4 MIT, No. 5 UW-Eau Claire, No. 6 Carleton, No. 9 Hope, No. 12 Wheaton (Ill.), No. 13 Pomona-Pitzer, No. 15 Calvin, No. 18 Brandeis, No. 20 Wartburg, No. 21 Otterbein, No. 23 North Central (Ill.), No. 24 Bates, No. 25 St. Olaf, No. 26 University of Chicago, No. 28 Emory and No. 32 St. Thomas (Minn.) in attendance.

That’s 17 ranked men’s and 17 ranked women’s programs all going head to head against their respective genders this weekend.

Hosting a meet of this caliber doesn’t come easy, but it helps when you have two USTFCCCA Hall of Famers in your corner, like UW-Oshkosh head coach Eamon McKenna does. McKenna has learned directly from USTFCCCA Hall of Famers Deb Vercauteren (Class of 2006) and John Zupanc (Class of 2012).

“This year’s event is bigger than ever, and we are experiencing new challenges in terms of field size and in terms of weather conditions,” McKenna said. “Luckily for me, our former men’s and women’s coaches, John Zupanc and Deb Vercauteren, still play a very active role in our program. They donate a lot of time and efforts into making things run smoothly and they have done a wonderful job of being flexible and helping us work through these challenges so that we can host the best meet possible for all these visiting teams and athletes.”

The Pre-National meet will serve as a preview to the 2018 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships that return to Lake Breeze Golf Club on November 17 for the first time since 2015. It is the fourth time in program history that UW-Oshkosh hosted NCAAs and McKenna said it’s an honor for his program each time.

Other Meets of Interest

Rowan hosts the Inter-Regional Border Battle, which features six men’s teams that were ranked in the most recent National Coaches’ Poll and eight women’s teams that were ranked in the most recent iteration. Both races feature top-10 battles as No. 2 RPI, No. 7 Carnegie Mellon and No. 10 Johns Hopkins headline the men’s race, while No. 1 Johns Hopkins, No. 3 SUNY Geneseo, No. 7 St. Lawrence and No. 10 RPI take part in the women’s event.

Connecticut College hosts its own invitational this weekend, one that has some top-ranked talent. Williams has the best teams in the field, by rank, but look out for Amherst‘s men and the Tufts women, among others.