The University of Dayton women's cross country team will be sending competitors to two meets this weekend.  

The Flyers will send a squad to the 39th Annual National Catholic Cross Country Meet on Friday, Sept. 15. at the Notre Dame Burke Golf Course. The women's 5k will take place at 4:15 p.m. The field includes Notre Dame (ranked No. 2 in the Great Lakes Region and ninth in the nation), Marquette (No. 11 in the Great Lakes Region), and Atlantic 10 schools Duquesne (No. 15 in Mid-Atlantic Region) and Saint Louis.

"The women are excited to race against some competitive teams. It'll be nice to race some A-10 conference squads and a few ranked teams in their respective regions," said head coach Jason Ordway. "The National Catholic meet is held on a great course and it's a meet that we look forward to racing every year."

Dayton will also send a squad to the 27th Annual Friendship Invitational Saturday, Sept. 16 at Cedarville University at the Elvin R. King Cross Country Course. The women's 5K race will being at 10:15 a.m.

"We're hoping to use the Friendship Invitational to continue to develop our depth on the squad," said Ordway. "I want to allow the women a chance to race and gain experience while pushing each other to contribute to the
program. Previewing the All-Ohio Championship course will aid these runners later on in the season."

Dayton is coming off a first-place finish at the Queen City Invitational on Sept. 2. The Flyers were paced by senior Emily Leonard who won the race in a near-record time of 17:19.1. She was named the first A-10 Performer of the Week for the season. In addition to Leonard, Dayton had six of the top seven runners in the race: sophomore Chloe Flora (second in 17:25.1), junior Taylor Vernot (fourth in 17:46.8), junior Emily Borchers (fifth in 17:48.4) and senior Grace McDonald (seventh in 18:01.5).