Terre Haute, Ind.- For the first time this season, the Florida Gulf Coast cross country teams will leave the Sunshine State as they head to the Midwest to take part in the Nike Town Twilight race in Terre Haute, Ind. on Friday.
 
The FGCU men look to continue their early season momentum after back to back third place finishes to begin their campaign which has earned them their highest ranking in program history at No. 14 in the USTFCCCA South Region poll. The strength of the Eagles thus far has been their depth as Siyabonga Mokgothu and Victor Kemboi turned in top 15 finishes to lead the way for them at the FSU Pre-Regional, two weeks after top 10 finishes by Innocent Ntwali and Evan Casterline paced the group at the Florida Intercollegiate Invitational.
 
On the women's side, the Eagles have been led by junior Alise Petrova in each of their first two runs of the year with the Eagles star turning in back-to-back top 20 finishes for the Blue and Green. After a 17^th place finish at the FSU Pre-Regional, Petrova was honored as the ASUN Runner of the Week for the first time in her career. Freshman Rhyen Foley has also put together a solid start to her FGCU career, picking up ASUN Freshman of the Week honors after each of the Eagles first two races of the year. Her latest accolades coming after charging through the field late for a top 30 finish at the FSU Pre-Regional after sitting 50^th at the 2000m mark.
 
The field will be a melting pot of competitors from different levels that will include Anderson (Ind.), Austin Peay, Baylor (women only), DePauw, Eastern Illinois, Florida Gulf Coast, Indiana State, IU Columbus, IU East, IU Kokomo, Kentucky Christian, Parkland College, Rose-Hulman, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, SIUE, SEMO, Southern Indiana, Spring Arbor (Mich.), Texas Tech, and UC San Diego.
 
Friday's race at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course will get underway with the women's 6k gun sounding at 5 p.m. and the men following up with an 8k race at 5:45 p.m..
 
Eagle fans can follow along with the action live on the Midwest Timing website or watch the race live on Runner Space.  
 
For more information on the Eagles, follow them on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit FGCUathletics.com.