XC Set for a Competitive Spartan Invitational Friday

MUNCIE, Ind. - - As the Ball State cross country team prepares for its next meet at Michigan State University, distance coach Rachel McFarlane said it will be an exciting return to a familiar place.

"I'm most excited to share my experience and my journey at Michigan State with them," McFarlane said. "It's a good course, so I'm looking forward to being able to show them all of it."

McFarlane, who ran cross country at Michigan State from 2010-13, will lead the Cardinals into East Lansing, Michigan for the Spartan Invitational on Friday (Sept. 14) looking to build on a second-place finish at last week's IWU Twilight Classic. McFarlane said she has plenty of adjustments for her team to make ahead of this week's race.

"We need to improve on making decisions and reacting to moves," McFarlane said. "If people go by you, we need to know how to react to that. We need to be making decisions that are going to help us at each individual moment of the race."

This will be Ball State's first 6K race of the season. It will also be the first time the Cardinals race against other MAC teams this year, with both Central Michigan and Western Michigan also competing. McFarlane said it will be good to see a couple of familiar foes prior to the conference championships, but she also said her group will still be focused on the other 27 teams as well.

"There are so many other teams beside just our conference opponents, so you can't focus solely on them," McFarlane said, "but I'll definitely be reminding the team if they see them during the race that those are people we'll be gunning for a month from now. They should test themselves against them."

Ball State saw seven of its 12 runners record career-best 5K times last week. One runner who was absent from that pack, however, was junior Peyton Kneadler. She'll be returning to the starting line for this race, after turning in a career-best 5K time of her own at the season-opening Butler Twilight, and she said she's ready to be back.

"I'm excited for this week's race," Kneadler said. "I think taking the last race off and focusing on what I'm good at and putting myself to the test helped mentally prepare me for this upcoming meet."

Kneadler said the group's teamwork during this week's practices should help everyone have a good race.

"Running beside a teammate is so much better than running alone," Kneadler said. "Our main goal is to have a big pack in the middle, keep working and not fall asleep. We're feeling strong, and I think the whole group should do well."

The Cardinals will look to prove their strength Friday afternoon in East Lansing. The women's 6K race is scheduled to start at 12:15 p.m.

For the most up-to-date news on Ball State cross country, follow @BallStateSports and @BallStateTFXC.

XC Set for a Competitive Spartan Invitational Friday

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Players Mentioned

Peyton Kneadler