The Tiger men's cross country team moved up three spots from their preseason ranking and will take the No. 8 spot in the poll into the Les Duke Invitational at Grinnell, Iowa, this weekend. The Tigers return several key runners this year as every meet will prepare the team for the GPAC Championships. The conference race becomes more important this year as the winner of the meet (excluding Nebraska Wesleyan) will automatically advance to the NAIA Championships.
The Tiger women's cross country team will also look to return to the NAIA rankings with a strong season. Doane returns six of their top seven runners including NAIA All-American Kym Bennett.
The Les Duke Invitational features several NCAA Division III ranked teams and the Tigers are underdogs on both sides according to various press releases. They hope to use this motivation to propel them to a strong showing in the opening meet.