Philadelphia, Pa.- After hitting the road for their first race of the year, La Salle women's cross country will compete closer to home this weekend. The Explorers will head to Belmont Plateau on Friday for the Friends Big 5 Invitational with the women's 4k race starting at 5:30 p.m. The Blue and Gold will be going up against the other four members of the Big 5; Saint Joseph's, Temple, Villanova, and Penn. 
 
"Tomorrow will be a great opportunity for both of our teams to lace up against a few of our cross town rivals," said Coach Tom Peterson.  "The Big 5 has a long athletic history, mainly in basketball.  This meet is a way to make cross country part of that history."
 
The Explorers finished last weekend 4-2 at the Duquesne Duals. They picked up wins over George Mason, Youngstown State, Carnegie Mellon and St. Joseph's while dropping results to Duquesne and Buffalo.
 
La Salle has three top-20 finishes led by Morgan Szekely in 19:14.7 (17^th) and Megan Connell in 19:14.9 (18^th) who crossed the finish line in tandem. Close behind was teammate Emily Ward with a time of 19:17.8 (20^th). The three freshmen all performed admirably in their first collegiate races and will be looking to continue that success into this weekend.
 
Last year at the Friends Big Five Invitational five Explorer runners placed in the top-20, good for a third place team finish. Senior Molly Mickle is the top returning finisher from last year's race, finishing in 13^th place with a time of 14:50.35. Mickle's classmate Taylor Hackett also returns after running a 14:51.14 good for 14^th place last year. Finally, junior Kaylie McNally finished in 18^th place with a time of 14:54.88.
 
The Explorers will return to action on Thursday September 25^th when they travel to nearby Haverford, Pa. for the Main Line Invitational.