With seven of the top ten ranked teams in the land squaring off  at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational Saturday, plenty of drama should go down, making it the premier race prior to the NCAA Cross Country Championships. While US#1 Providence enters as the odds-on-favorite, there is plenty of talent among the other top squads to pull off an upset win.

If the team race isn’t exciting enough, then how about the fact that Dartmouth senior Abbey D’Agostino is the headlining individual. D’Agostino will have competition for the first real time this season, as the top Providence runners, Duke’s Juliet Bottorff and Arizona State’s Shelby Houlihan look to upset the 2012 NCAA Cross Country Championship runner-up.

Here’s our breakdown.

Women’s Team Race

US#1 Providence had heavy expectations placed on them since the summer and so far the Friars have come out swinging. Led by a trio of All-American talent in Laura Nagel, Emily Sisson and Sarah Collins, Providence has shown little reason as to why they shouldn’t win the Wisconsin adidas Invitational this weekend and maintain their US#1 ranking.

Surprise (kind of) freshman Catarina Rocha is stepping up big for Providence, not running with their top three, but demonstrating her tenacity and ability to run with any other team’s fourth best runner. The only question mark remaining is their fifth runner. Thus far, they know that’s their weak point, and unless they improve it a bit, they are vulnerable a little this weekend, but much more so at NCAAs.

While Providence is sitting strong in the top spot heading into the weekend, US#3 Arizona is a team on the rise. Entering the season, many expected the Wildcats to compete for a top four finish in the Pac-12 and a top ten finish at NCAAs, but the addition of Iowa transfer Kayla Beattie and European freshman Maria Larsson, have given Arizona a reason to think they can pull off the upset victory on Saturday. Elvin Kibet is a legit front runner, while Nicci Corbin should challenge for a top ten finish Saturday. At the Roy Griak Invitational earlier this season, Arizona placed four in the top eight.

Fellow Pac-12 contender US#4 Washington could easily pull an upset victory, too. While lead runner Katie Flood is returning to her old self this fall, freshmen Amy-Eloise Neale and Katie Knight have given the Huskies some much needed depth up top. Despite losing All-American Megan Goethals for the season, this squad is still in trophy content. Their 30-52 win over host Oregon at the Bill Dellinger Invitational shows just how serious this squad can compete.

While Providence, Arizona and Washington grab national attention heading into this weekend, US#7 New Mexico slips into Wisconsin overlooked. The Lobos gave US#2 Florida State a run for their money at the Notre Dame Invitational, finishing in second only five points behind the Seminoles. While Florida State continues their drive for another trophy this fall, New Mexico has to be considered a legit trophy threat, too. Sammy Silva, Charlotte Arter and Calli Thackery give this squad a extremely talented trio up front and don’t be surprised if they pull off the surprise victory.

The rest of the top ten ranked teams in the field include US#8 Arkansas, US#9 Michigan State and US#10 San Francisco. All three teams run strong packs and should challenge for top three, as well. Arkansas ran a 20 second split at the Chile Pepper Invitational earlier this season, while Michigan State ran a 16 second split for a runner-up finish at Roy Griak. San Francisco follows the lead of Bridget Dahlberg and Eva Krchova and enter with some momentum on their side after a strong third place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational.

For whatever reason, US#17 Duke is ridiculously underrated. Yes, they finished a depressing tenth at the Notre Dame Invitational, but they ran without their second (Wesley Frazier) and fourth (Hannah Maier) best runners and their third runner (Haley Maier) ran the worst race possible. A full squad, led by the insanely talented Juliet Bottorff, will be out to prove the pollsters wrong and honestly have as good as shot as any of the top ranked squads to travel back to Durham with a first place trophy.

The Abbey D’Agostino led US#13 Dartmouth squad is having a terrific season and is charging past expectations. Same goes for US#15 Cornell, led by top ten challenger Rachel Sorna. Both squads are having very good seasons and use tight pack running behind their front running leaders.

With seven of the top ten teams in the country, including a couple under ranked teams, the Wisconsin adidas Invitational promises to be the best race of the season outside of the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Women’s Individual Race

It’s been a quiet and stress free start to the fall season for Dartmouth’s Abbey D’Agostino. Driven with the desire to win her first NCAA cross country title this fall, D’Agostino is a woman on a mission. While it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see her go out and simply crush the field, winning by 20+ seconds, the level of competition here is very strong and shouldn’t let her simply run away with it, at least not until the final mile.

The main challenger to D’Agostino on paper is Duke’s Juliet Bottorff. The Blue Devil senior is on a roll this fall. She’s been leading her team all season, including an impressive nine second win over All-American Colleen Quigley (Florida State) at the Notre Dame Invitational. It’s hard to argue that Bottorff could very well be the second best runner in the country currently, behind D’Agostino, and should give the Dartmouth standout the toughest challenge of the season to date.

Overlooked standout Shelby Houlihan (Arizona State) could pose a big threat to Bottorff’s pre-race runner-up status. Houlihan has quietly gone about her business this fall, showing she’s stronger and more lethal than ever. After winning the Roy Griak Invitational by 13 seconds, there is absolutely no reason for Houlihan to not go up and challenge D’Agostino early on.

Providence’s trio of Laura Nagel, Emily Sisson and Sarah Collins will each eye a top five finish. All three are capable of being the squad’s number one runner of the weekend and use that to fuel them throughout the race. They will no doubt run as a pack for much of the race.

Liv Westphal of Boston College, Sammy Silva (New Mexico), Elvin Kibet (Arizona), Rachel Sorna (Cornell), Samantha Ginther (Indiana) and Waverly Neer (Columbia) are other notable top ten contenders.

Ranked Teams Competing

US#1 Providence

US #3 Arizona

US#4 Washington

US#7 New Mexico

US#8 Arkansas

US#9 Michigan State

US#10 San Francisco

US#13 Dartmouth

US#15 Cornell

US#17 Duke

US#22 Minnesota

US#24 Boston College

US#25 Vanderbilt

US#26 BYU

US#28 Iowa State

US#29 Texas

US#30 Notre Dame