Wildcats Set for Regular Season Finale at Pre-National Invitational
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Wildcats cross country team is set for the 2026 regular season finale on Friday at the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind., hosted by Indiana State University.
On the women’s side, the Wildcats are coming off two consecutive runner-up finishes to open the season at the Tennessee Invitational and the Gans Creek Classic. Sophomore Ann Lemirisho finished first and third in the two meets, while sophomore Doricah Minsari Isoe posted second-place and fourth-place finishes.
Following the meet in Knoxville, Lemirisho was named SEC Women’s Runner of the Week.
For the men’s team, Kentucky placed third in the 4-mile race in the season opener, followed by a 12th-place finish at the Gans Creek Classic in Columbia, Mo. Collins Kiprop Kipngok and Ed Bird have featured as the standout performers during the early portion of the schedule, placing as the Wildcats top two finishers in both of the first two meets.
“There’s been a lot of progress made since arriving last fall,” Coach Tito Medrano said. “In the first year together, we broke four all-time UK records and four all-time UK freshman records, and the majority of our athletes ran massive personal bests. Our distance squad qualified its largest number of athletes in a long time for the NCAA East Preliminaries. We also had an SEC steeplechase champion, a fourth-place NCAA steeplechase finish and two men qualify individually for the NCAA Cross Country Championships.
“With most of those contributors returning and talented transfers and freshmen joining us, there’s a lot of positive momentum. Our goals are to break every distance and middle-distance school record at Kentucky, qualify teams for the NCAA Cross Country Championships and develop SEC champions, NCAA All-Americans and NCAA champions in track and field.”
Friday’s event will feature a competitive field of opposing teams, including SEC programs Auburn, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, as well as Power Four programs such as Arizona, BYU, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, NC State, North Carolina and Notre Dame.
The Pre-National Invitational is scheduled to get underway at 10 a.m. ET, starting with the women’s 6k race, followed by the men’s 8k race at 10:40 a.m. ET.
Follow Kentucky Track and Field and Cross Country on Facebook, Instagram, X, and UKathletics.com.
