With just two weeks remaining before the Big Sky Championship, Montana State Cross Country will make the nearly 2,000 mile trip to Happy Valley to compete at the Penn State National in University Park, Pa. The invitation-only meet will serve as a final tune-up headed into the closing half of the 2011 slate.

The Penn State National features 25 different competing schools at the Blue and White Golf Course.

In the men's race, Seth Grossman and Jacob Kirk have led the Bobcat men thus far. He finished ninth at the Bozeman Running Company Invitational (Sept. 17) and fourth at the Montana Invitational (Sept. 30).

Heather Haug, in her first competition of the year, won the Montana Invitational, her first collegiate cross country win and will be expected to be the frontrunner for the MSU women.

“This meet is a big step from the first two meets of the season,” said head coach Dale Kennedy. “It will give us a chance to see how we meet the test of competing at this level and we'll hopefully come of the races feeling good headed into the Big Sky Championship.”

The men's 5.2 mile race is slated for an 8:00 a.m. (MT) start and the women's 6K will begin at 9:00 a.m.