The Niagara men's and women's cross country teams are back in action to compete in the annual National Catholic Invitational hosted by Notre Dame on Friday. The women's race begins at 4:15 p.m. followed by the men's race at 5 p.m.
 
Pre-Meet Notes (Women)

• Kayla Murphy and Caroline Hampton both finished in the top-10 in the season-opening Little 3 Championships at Delaware Park
• Murphy finished in eighth place (19:46.0) and was followed by Hampton (19:55.8).
• Danielle Dorogi (21:05.9), Aly Orfano (21:07.0), and Megan Helf (21:13.02) were 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively.

 
Rewind: 2015 National Catholic Invitational

• Kayla Murphy led the Purple Eagles with a personal best time of 19:25 stopping her time of 20:54.72 from the 2014 race. Murphy placed 109th out of 299 runners.  
• Caroline Hampton was next for the Purple Eagles at 19:57.5
• Niagara finished 12th out of 12 teams.

 
Pre-Meet Notes (Men)

• In the season-opening Little 3 Championships, Niagara ran the 5K event in 16:43.3 to finish ahead of St. Bonaventure (17:10.2) and behind Canisius (15:51.0).
• Tyler Van Leeuwen finished in eighth place to lead Niagara with a time of 16:18.4. 
• Four freshmen finished in 10-13th place: Ryan Delola, Matt Whitworth, Ethan Graves and Aidan Russell.

 
Rewind: 2015 National Catholic Invitational

• Jordan Bender finished third on the team with a time of 27:57.4 followed by  Sergio Cruz (28:38.8) and Ben Slate (28:45.8).
• Tyler van Leeuwen finished sixth (27:12.8) in the JV 5K race
• Niagara finished 13th out of 13 teams.

Stay connected with the Purple Eagles through social media. Follow Niagara Athletics on Twitter @NUPurpleEagles and for cross country updates at @NiagaraXCTF. Check in with the Purple Eagles on Facebook/PurpleEagles and on Instagram @NUPurpleEagles.