The SMU Cross Country team will look to build off their season opening win at TCU when they travel to College Station next week to participate in the Texas A&M Invitational.

The invitational hosts 39 teams, 20 men and 19 women’s, and have a total field of more than 2,700 runners. The Mustangs will try to improve upon last year’s results when they finished second overall, losing to Baylor University. To do so, the team will look to junior Silje Fjortoft to lead the team again this year.

Fjortoft has established herself as one of the premier cross country runners in Conference-USA since she first entered SMU. In her freshman year, Fjortoft earned numerous awards including NCAA South Central Region Athlete of the Year, C-USA Cross Country Newcomer of the Year and C-USA Freshman of the Year. Fjortoft continued her success in her sophomore year, garnering the C-USA Cross Country Athlete of the Year award.

SMU has always been one of the top cross country contenders in C-USA and their hard work finally paid off last year when they won the conference championship. It was the first title that the cross country team won in C-USA and the team rose as high as No. 19 in national polls before finishing 20th at the NCAA championships.

After participating at A&M, the Mustangs will travel to UNT to take place in the North Texas Invitational on Sept. 19. SMU will defend their C-USA championship title starting on Oct. 31 in Houston, Texas.