Gopher Teams Eye Midwest Regional

The University of Minnesota cross country teams are eying hopefully Saturday's NCAA Division I Midwest Regional. Both squads enter the contest seeded as the #3 team in the national qualifying meet hosted by Northern Illinois University.

The top two men's and women's teams in the event automatically qualify for the NCAA Division I Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana on November 21. An additional 13 men's and women's teams nation-wide will receive at-large bids, to be announced by Sunday evening.

The Gopher men, ranked #21 nationally, would need to upset either #2-ranked Oklahoma State, the defending NCAA champs, or #5-ranked Oklahoma to earn an automatic birth to nationals. The Gopher men appear to be in good shape for an at-large bid, if they finish in the top-three at the meet.

Find the GopherSports men's preview and watch Gopher men's coach Steve Plasencia discuss his squad's prospects HERE.

Iowa State, the #10-ranked team in D1, is the women's favorite heading to DeKalb. The battle for the second automatic qualifying slot could be scrum between #24 Oklahoma State, #30 Minnesota, and un-ranked Iowa, which finished just nine points behind the Gophers at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago.

Find the GopherSports women's preview HERE.