DeKalb | Women’s cross country is looking to continue its winning ways in the team’s second meet of the season.

NIU will get back on the course Friday when it competes in the Illinois State Invitational.

The Huskies will be without one of their top returners from last season Juliane Totzke, head coach Greg Hipp said. Totzke has yet to be cleared by doctors after failing to finish the NIU Open last week due to the heat.

“She should be back next week,” Hipp said. “So basically, she will not be back in meets until the 28th when we travel to Minneapolis.”

NIU has recovered well since its last meet, and leg soreness is not too bad this week.

“We have been running in the morning a lot more,” Hipp said. “We have had pretty respectable workouts so far this week. Everyone seems to be OK.”

The level of training has not been too heavy this week, Hipp said.

“We have not been too intense this week,” Hipp said. “We have been making sure they are recovered and ready to go when Friday comes.”

Ali Olson, Jamie Burr and Leah Raffety look to lead NIU once again.

Olson and Raffety finished one and two Friday during the NIU Open, while team captain Burr took the fourth spot.

Raffety is going into the meet confident, and wants to continue to be one of NIU’s top runners.

“I’m excited to get out and compete,” Raffety said. “I want to go out there and try to get a new [personal record] in the 5K.”

Olson, who will make her first trip to the ISU course, feels a sub 19:00 5K is possible for her along with some of the other Huskies.

“This will be the first time I will run at this course,” Olson said. “But we had a good weekend to recover, and have had some great workouts this week, I think we have a group of us who can possibly run under 19 minutes.”

The competition will be a six-team meet, which will be different for NIU, which started the season running against one opponent. The Huskies will face in-state rivals Bradley, Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois and UIC along with North Central and Northern Iowa.

The 5K race is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Friday.