South Bend, Ind. is known for its battles fought on the gridiron, but with no football played at Notre Dame this weekend, the biggest match-up on campus will be on the golf course. Duke (No. 2 on the Wood Report) and Florida State (No. 5) will face off in the women’s blue division race at the Notre Dame Invitational.

Notre Dame Invitational Start List
The Wood Report - General Information and Statistics

Duke graduate student Juliet Bottorff is coming off a stellar performance to open her season at the adidas XC Challenge, where she ran 16:28.9 to earn USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week honors. The best women’s freshman class is also paying dividends for the Blue Devils as Wesley Frazier, Haley and Hannah Meier debuted with third, fourth, and seventh place finishes respectively. Last year, there were only two freshmen in the top 25 at Notre Dame. 

This will be the first of several duels between the Blue Devils and Seminoles. Notre Dame sets the early season match-up before the ACC Championship will crown one of the two powerhouses before the NCAA Championship.

The Florida State women opened their season with two easy victories at the Wake Forest Open and the Covered Bridge Open. After not running at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field championships in the steeplechase, Colleen Quigley returned to action with a second place finish at Wake Forest in 20:59.8. The junior needs no further introduction after placing 12th at the NCAA Championship Meet, where she ran 19:53.2. She took the victory at this meet last year.

Also back, and expected in the team’s top five, will be junior Linden Hall, one of the more consistent runners on the team, and Georgia Peel the talented sophomore.

The team received an influx of foreign talent with Hannah Walker and Pippa Wooden transferring from Birmingham University to Florida State for their junior years. Walker was the Seminoles’ top runner at their first two meets, which she also ended up winning.  Friday will be her first true test over 6,000-meters. Last year at Notre Dame, the Florida State women controlled the pack from the front, expect some blue jerseys to be mixed with the garnet and gold. If Walker unleashes, lock her into a top five spot in the overall race.

The battle for third place will be between Butler, San Francisco and Notre Dame. Butler, the newcomers to the Big East, are coming off a third place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational. Back-to-back weeks of tough competition for Mara Olson and Katie Clark will test their turn-around. The gap behind them needs to be much closer for the Bulldogs to make a running for the No. 2 team spot. The Fighting Irish women return five of their runners that placed 15th in Louisville last year.

Note: Butler is apparently running their "B" team.

The weather for South Bend on Friday calls for a high of 84 degrees, which should not be a problem for the women coming from the South.

The Wood Report - General Information and Statistics