Defending NCAA champions announce 2009 cross country schedule...

SEATTLE - The defending NCAA Champion Husky women's cross country team (left/photo by Paul Merca) now knows the path leading to a repeat, as the 2009 meet schedule has been finalized. The UW men, Top-20 finishers in two of the past three years, will also be striving for another NCAA berth this fall.

The series of races mirrors the 2008 agenda with just one exception. The men and women will follow the same schedule, opening up with the only home meet of the year, the Sundodger Invitational at West Seattle's Lincoln Park on Saturday, September 19.

The second meet is the only change from a year ago, as the teams will visit South Bend, Indiana for the Notre Dame Invitational on Friday, October 2. That meet will be the day before the Husky football team plays its road game at Notre Dame as well.

Washington will then be back in Indiana two weeks later for the Pre-National Meet held on the same course as the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute. That meet is set for October 17.

The Pac-10 Championships, which the women swept in unprecedented fashion last fall, will be hosted by USC this year on October 31. The NCAA West Regional meet will be hosted by Oregon at the Springfield Country Club on November 14, followed by the 2009 NCAA Cross Country Championships on November 23 back in Terre Haute at the LaVerne Gibson Championship Course.

Washington will also having runners competing in two additional local meets: the Emerald City Open on October 3 at Woodland Park, and the Northwest College Invite on October 17 at Lincoln Park.

The Huskies will begin training in the last week of August. Preseason rankings will be released September 16.

NOTE: The University of Washington contributed to this report.