LINCOLN, Neb. – The Wichita State women's cross country team is sending a select group of athletes to Lincoln, Nebraska this Saturday (Sept. 17) for the Greeno/Dirksen Invitational at Mahoney Park Golf Course., where they will race a 5K at 10:50 a.m.
 
Last time out, the Shocker women joined the men's team as JK Gold Classic team champions at the home season-opener, and the men moved up two places to No. 4 in the USTFCCCA Midwest regional rankings. The men will take this meet off in preparation for next weekend's Roy Griak Invitational 8K in Minneapolis, Minn.
 
The Greeno/Dirksen Invitational features 36 teams, including 10 Division I programs, which will compete in the red division 5K race.
 
At last year's meet in Lincoln, the Shocker women placed fifth without their top runner, and the men brought home the team title with 27 points, knocking off an Air Force team that was receiving votes in the national coaches' poll and an Iowa squad that was ranked a spot ahead of Wichita State in the Midwest rankings.
 
The top two Shocker women from the season-opener will not compete this weekend, but the rest of the young team will get another collegiate race under their belts. Miranda Dick and Lubna Aldulaimi placed fourth (19:04.7) and fifth (19:16.5), respectively, at the JK Gold Classic and will lead a team of mostly freshmen and newcomers in Saturday's race.
 
The Shockers will be up against four teams that made appearances in the USTFCCCA week one regional rankings, with Kansas State leading the way at No. 7 in the Midwest, followed by Air Force (No. 9 Mountain), Kansas (No. 11 Midwest) and host Nebraska (No. 13 Midwest). Kansas State opened their season with a win over Kansas, Kansas City and Oral Roberts at the Bob Timmons Classic in Lawrence, Kan., where Kansas's Lona Latema earned the individual win with a 5K time of 17:28.74, over 30 seconds ahead of second place. Air Force's squad recorded five sub-18-minute performances at its Falcons-only home-opener but will race against outside competition for the first time on Saturday.
 
The Greeno/Dirksen Invitational is co-hosted by Nebraska Wesleyan and Nebraska and is named after long-time coaches Woody Greeno and Jay Dirksen.
 
Live results will be available at blacksquirreltiming.com/live-results.