Sept. 11, 2008

DeKALB - The Northern Illinois cross country team hosts the Huskie Open, Saturday, welcoming competition from Wisconsin and Illinois.

The Huskies will face racers from Wisconsin, Green Bay, Milwaukee, Marquette and Augustana in the five-kilometer run starting at 12:15 p.m. The day's program also features an eight-kilometer men's race at 1 p.m., in which all teams but NIU and Augustana will compete.

The courses start at the intramural softball field between Anderson Hall and the Engineering Building on the northwest corner of the NIU campus. Athletes will run east along the banks of the Kishwaukee River, and pass Barsema Hall, home of the NIU School of Business, before finishing just to the south of the softball field.

NIU is coming off a fourth place finish at the Illini Challenge, where the team was led by senior Meghan Ginter (Aurora, Ill./Waubonsie Valley). Fellow seniors Denisse Valladares (Mt. Prospect, Ill./Hersey) and Ashley Rittenbacher (New Lenox, Ill./Lincoln-Way Central) also performed well at the race, finishing as the second and third Huskies, respectively.

Complete race results can be found at this link after the race.

Directions to the course from I-88: Take the Annie Glidden RD/IL-23/IL-38/DeKalb exit. Turn right at Lucinda Avenue Turn left onto Kishwaukee Drive