Butler's cross country team will split up this weekend competing in two different states that includes a preview of the 2024 NCAA Championships course. The Bulldog women will kick off the weekend in Peoria, Ill. for the Bradley "Pink" Classic and the men will follow on Saturday in Madison, Wis. for the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals meets.

The men enter as the 18th ranked team in the country according to the coaches poll from Oct. 8 by the U.S. Cross Country and Track and Field Coaches Association.

The 8K race will feature 31 teams in the Men's A Race with 18 of them ranking in the USCCTFCA's Top 30 rankings. Butler will face off against the defending champion Northern Arizona as well as top-ranked programs in No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Iowa St., and No. 5 Notre Dame.

Head coach Matt Roe will have all his top runners available for the first time this season.

William Zegarski will compete after a stellar performance in his first appearance of the season on Oct. 4 at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational. Zegarski led the way with a top-10 finish at 23:08.25

Austin Gabay and Florian Le Pallec rounded out the top-25 finishes after placing 21st (23:36.54) and 24th (23:43.07). David Slapak also completed his first race of the season after crossing the line in 31st at 23:50.60. Rounding out the entry list will include Sean Byrnes, Luke Henseler, Martin Kovacech, and Matteo Rosio.

On the women's side, the team of 12 student-athletes will be split up into two 6K races on Friday including the White race (Open) and Red race (D1 Invite).

The White race will begin at 3:15pm ET and will feature 36 different teams. Butler will have three athletes in the race including Lexi Affolter, Mckenna Mazeski, and Caitlin Rose.

The women's Red invite will follow at 4:45pm ET with 33 teams stepping up to the line. Nine different athletes will be competing in the race for the Bulldogs. 

Wiktoria Klebowska will lead the way after placing 42nd with a time of 20:39.15 at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational on Oct. 4. 

Ashlyn Minton and Hannah Moore each earned top-100 finishes after Minton took 89th at 21:16.84 and Moore earned 96th at 21:19.8.

Rounding out the Bulldog competitors this weekend include Kylie Cline, Camille El Baghlouli, Ashley Learn, Alejandra Sierazy and Renate Toldo.

Live Results will be available on the schedule page of ButlerSports.com