Slideshow Stanford men will challenge themselves at Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Saturday. Photo by Aaron Shepley/StanfordPhoto.com. Abby McNulty/John Todd Previous Next

Grant Fisher makes his cross country season debut as Stanford competes in its biggest race before the postseason, at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational on Friday.

Fisher, the reigning NCAA outdoor track and field 5,000-meter champion, leads the strongest Stanford men's lineup of the season.

All-Americans Vanessa Fraser and Fiona O'Keeffe lead a Cardinal women's team that largely mirrors the squad that placed second at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Oregon two weeks ago.

This meet has grown in stature because it offers the best chance to beat top teams head-to-head. Twenty of the top 30 men's teams in the USTFCCCA rankings are scheduled to compete, including three of the top four: No. 1 and defending NCAA champ Northern Arizona, No. 3 Syracuse, and No. 4 Stanford.

The individual race features Syracuse junior Justyn Knight, a Canadian who was ninth in the 5,000 at the World Championships in London this summer. At the 2016 NCAA cross country championships, Knight was second and Fisher fifth, and Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald, an Australian who also raced at worlds and competes Friday, was seventh.