The University of Oregon will host the annual Bill Dellinger Invitational tomorrow in Springfield, Oregon, their season opener after the Oregon XC Preview scheduled for early September was unfortunately cancelled due to toxic air conditions. The high-level competition expected for the men's 8K and women's 6K make the longer wait worth it, as we will see several top-10 nationally ranked squads duke it out on the Ducks' home turf. Check back to FloTrack tomorrow for race videos and post-race interviews from the action.

View Bill Dellinger entries here and play the FloXC Pick'Em Game here, where you can compete to predict the top finishing individuals and teams at the Bill Dellinger XC Invitational, Joe Piane Notre Dame XC Invitational, and the Louisville XC Classic this weekend.

Men's 8K

When: 11 AM CT
FloXC Ranked Teams: No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Oregon, No. 6 BYU, No. 16 Washington, No. 22 Portland
FloXC Ranked Individuals: No. 9 Rory Linkletter (BYU), No. 10 Reed Brown (Oregon)
Analysis: Don't be shocked to see the BYU Cougars topple Pac-12 powers Stanford and Oregon. Of the three top-10 ranked teams, only BYU has entered their projected top five to seven runners. Oregon is holding out their top returner from last year, No. 24-ranked Matthew Maton, while the Cardinal is not racing two of its projected top five: No. 2 ranked Grant Fisher and No. 17 Thomas Ratcliffe.

Rory Linkletter of BYU -- the NCAA 10K runner-up this spring -- is by far the favorite for the individual title, though in an early-season battle like this it's common to see surprises. What I'm most looking forward to in this meet is seeing how newcomers -- freshmen and transfers alike -- fare with being thrown into the fire for the first time.

For the Ducks, we'll finally see if Foot Locker champion Reed Brown truly deserves that No. 10 ranking, plus get a gauge on 4:00-flat prep miler Cooper Teare and transfers James West and Connor Clark. Stanford will debut true freshmen Callum Bolger, Connor Lane, and Michael Vernau, as well as redshirt freshman Alek Parsons, but not their 4:00-flat high school miler in D.J. Principe.

Keep an eye on Chase Equall, Isaac Green, and Evert Silva, who are competing unattached at this meet but could make an impact later in the season on Washington and Portland's rosters if they produce good results here. Note that the Huskies are debuting several freshmen, including Tibebu Proctor and Talon Hull.

All of this is to say, we'll be keeping our calculators open while checking out results to factor in how the team scores might change with a few additional athletes. 

​Watch the FloXC Show to see how the FloTrack team thinks the Bill Dellinger Invitational could shake up the FloXC Rankings:

Women's 6K

When: 12 PM CT
FloXC Ranked Teams: No. 2 Stanford, No. 4 Oregon, No. 6 Washington, No. 18 BYU, No. 23 Portland
FloXC Ranked Individuals: No. 7 Katie Rainsberger (Oregon), No. 11 Amy-Eloise Neale (Washington)
Analysis: Yaaaaas time to get hyped for a super-super early look at the best teams in the Pac-12. The odds are skewed in favor of a minor upset in the FloXC rankings, as No. 2 Stanford is leaving three of its projected top five women at home, while No. 4 Oregon and No. 6 Washington are running at near full strength.

Leading the Cardinal are Vanessa Fraser, a 15:26 5K woman this spring, and Fiona O'Keeffe, who earned All-American honors as a true freshman last year. That means they're missing Christina Aragon, Elise Cranny, and Courtney Smith, the latter a transfer from Harvard who has not raced since last cross country season. Freshmen Jordan Oakes, Jessica Lawson, and Julia Heymach are racing, but Nevada Mareno is not.

Oregon also has a transfer from the Crimson in true sophomore Judy Pendergast, who is donning a uniform for Friday's race. Pendergast is just one of several top Oregon transfers, including Carmela Cardama-Baez, formerly of FSU; Susan Ejore, who joins the Ducks from the junior college ranks; and Sabrina Southerland, formerly of Georgetown. Pendergast and Cardama-Baez, in particular, are slated to make an immediate top-five impact on the Ducks' scoring, so it will be interesting to note how everyone stacks up. Jessica Hull and Katie Rainsberger -- the fourth-placer at NCAA XC last fall -- will also compete, leaving No. 19-ranked Alli Cash the only big name on the Ducks' roster to sit this one out. (It's also worth noting that prep phenom Sarah Baxter is no longer listed on the Ducks' XC roster; efforts to reach out to Oregon regarding her absence were not returned).

No. 7-ranked Rainsberger is a top contender for the individual win here vs. Pac-12 rival Amy-Eloise Neale of Washington, who ranks No. 11 in the FloXC and leads a fully-loaded Huskies squad into Duck territory tomorrow. Expect Fraser and O'Keeffe to be up in the mix as well. 

Watch out for Shona McCulloch, a potential top contributor to the Huskies who is currently listed as unattached in the entries.

Of note: the Cal Poly women are racing, but absent in the entries is No. 23-ranked Peyton Bilo, a XC All-American last year.

​Watch this Workout Wednesday with the BYU women, who are racing at Bill Dellinger tomorrow: