MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Having come out with a victory last weekend at the WVU Invitational, the No. 15 West Virginia University cross country team hopes for a similar outcome on Saturday at the BIG EAST Preview.

Held in Syracuse, N.Y., the 2010 BIG EAST Preview will feature the same course that the BIG EAST Championships will occur on Oct. 30 at Jamestown Beach Park. The women's 5K race will begin at 9:45 a.m.

"The purpose of the event is to see the course that we will run at the Big East Championships later this season," says WVU coach Sean Cleary. "It is really going to help us prepare for October."

No. 9 Syracuse University will host the event as their season opener. The Orange are coming off a strong 2009 season in which they finished 18th in the country at the NCAA Championships and come into the 2010 season with a No. 1 ranking in the Northeast region. They finished in third place just behind the Mountaineers at the BIG EAST Championships in 2009.

Other schools participating at the meet include BIG EAST Conference foes Connecticut, Seton Hall, DePaul and South Florida.

In addition to the participants from the WVU Invitational last weekend, runners Kaylyn Christopher, Sarah-Anne Brault, Katie Gillespie, Stephanie Caruso, Sarah Martinelli, and Maria Dalzot will make their first appearances of the 2010 season for WVU.

The Mountaineers who participated in the WVU Invitational were Hallie Portner, Aubrey Moskal, Jordan Hamric, Chelsea Jarvis, Allison Pettit and Jamie Cokeley. Portner finished first for WVU at the meet, crossing the finish line with a 4K time of 15:02 and was pursued closely by Moskal and Hamric.

"We will race against some quality teams on a course we will have to race on later this season," Cleary says. "This is just a great opportunity for our younger girls to get some valuable experience.

"Our objective is not to find out how good we can be this weekend, but to know what to prepare for when the real running begins in October so we can be at our best."