Traveling to the state perhaps best known for its races, the Longhorns won’t be saddling horses this weekend in Kentucky. Instead, they’ll be on foot for Saturday’s NCAA Pre-Nationals Cross Country Meet as the squad looks to triumph over 38 competing teams at the E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park where the University of Louisville will host the 6K race.

Longhorns seniors Laleh Mojtabaeezamani and Anne Jones will compete in the “Red” seeded race alongside juniors Marielle Hall, Sara Sutherland, Megan Siebert, Jessica Harper and Brittany Marches. Underclassmen participants will travel as “Black” unseeded racers this weekend, though sophomore Connor Ward and redshirt freshman Marissa Pekarek will compete unattached at the 5K Annual Cross Country Invitational in Cedar Park hosted by Concordia University.

Races span the length of the morning, opening with the Concordia invitational at 8 a.m., the “Red” race at 8:15 a.m. and “Black” at 9:30 a.m. Kentucky races are held on the same course that team members hope to return to for the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Last season, the Longhorns finished fifth at Pre-Nationals following three team victories. Currently enjoying a two-meet winning streak, the team hopes this weekend brings its third.

“This part of the season after a hard workload like we’ve been doing and with the weather [at the Grand Prix meet], all of those things are callousing effects,” assistant coach Stephen Sisson said after the last meet. “What we’re really looking for is how well they can handle it.”

The Longhorns aim to withstand all callousing effects to enter victorious at the Big 12 Cross Country Championships in Austin Oct. 27.