No. 23 Hoosiers traveling to Roy Griak Invitational

In the 20-year history of the Roy Griak Invitational, Roy Griak has only missed one year. The legendary coach, for whom the race is named, worked 41 years in the Minnesota Athletics Department, 33 of which he was a track and cross country coach. \nThis Saturday, if everything goes as they would like, the IU women's cross country team will have the chance to meet him. Griak will again have the honor of being an award presenter at the meet this year.\n"We are looking for a top five finish," IU head coach Judy Wilson said. \nThe host -- the Minnesota Golden Gophers -- is expecting a record amount of runners for this year's event, making the Griak Invitational one of the largest in the country. \nThe race is also known to bring in quality as well as quantity. Defending champions from the past two years, Providence University and Arizona State University head the field. The meet will also feature five other nationally ranked teams, three of which are ranked above the Hoosiers. \n"The course is definitely faster than ours, so we will have a chance to run a fast time and really compete against a competitive field of nationally-ranked opponents," senior Larra Overton said. \nJunior Jessica Gall agrees with Overton's assessment of the meet.\n"It will also be nice to compete against the large number of teams that will be there," Gall said. "It changes the dynamics of the race to have a lot of runners in it; you have to defend your space and weave around people more often."\nIf the Hoosiers can weave their way to a top finish in the race, they will have a noted advantage in Big Ten competition as the invitational is held at the same location as this year's Big Ten Championship.\n"This meet will be a good opportunity for us to get in our first 6K of the season and also get comfortable with the course since we'll be running it at Big Tens," Gall said.\nThere are several Big Ten rivals in the meet, including the two-time Griak championship teams of Wisconsin and Minnesota. However, the three conference foes ranked higher than the Hoosiers will not be competing in the event.