DeKALB — Cross country will be opening the season Friday with the Western Illinois University Early Bird meet.

The last time the team traveled to WIU was in 2009 when they placed 5 out of 7 at the WIU Open.

The cross country team placed fourth in the Mid-American Conference Championships and fifteenth in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship.

“We’re the only team in the conference returning three All-Conference runners,” Head Coach Adrian Myers said. “That’s something from a statistics standpoint [that] makes us very competitive.”

Junior Ashley Tutt returns for another season after placing 14th in the regional championship in 2018, the third-best regional performance in school history. Tutt earned Second Team All-MAC honors last season.

“I think she will strongly contend for an individual MAC title,” Myers said.

The Huskies will also return junior Mackenzie Callahan and redshirt senior Ericka Hibser.

Callahan is another 2018 Second team All-MAC honoree. She finished 39th at the NCAA Midwest Regionals and helped NIU to fourth place at the MAC Championships.

Hibser did not participate in last season’s cross country campaign due to redshirting.