CEDAR FALLS - The competition may have a head start, but the University of Northern Iowa cross country teams hope to close the gap this season.

The Panthers, under the direction of interim head coach and UNI alum Dave Paulsen, open their season Friday at the University of Iowa where they will run a 6-kilometer men's race and a 3K women's dual against the Hawkeyes.

Paulsen has more student-athletes this season and plenty of young talent.

"The landscape of the women's team has changed drastically," said Paulsen, whose roster has grown from six a year ago to 17 runners.

Sophomores Carly Olsen of Missouri Valley and Danielle Nowasell of Grinnell are the top returning runners. Nowasell finished fifth at last year's Missouri Valley Conference championships while Olsen cracked the top 20. Paulsen also expects an immediate contribution from freshman Lindsey Wilkins of Spring Grove, Ill.

"We just need to find a couple more to rise to the top in that secondary group and I think we're going to be alright," said Paulsen.

On the men's side, Mike Cooper of Dayton, Brady Fritz of Iowa City, Alex Mark of Cedar Falls, David Nielsen of Cedar Falls and Aaron Vosberg of Farnhamville are back for their sophomore seasons and will be joined by several promising newcomers.

Steven Dak of Marshalltown, a junior college transfer, joins the program after finishing second among all JC runners a year ago. His personal record of 24:11 is approximately 20 seconds better than UNI's school record.

"He's a definite shot in the arm that we need," said Paulsen, who also added accomplished prep miler Andrew Nelson of Geneva, Ill., to his team, along with Thibault Vandenabeele, who contributed to the track team during the outdoor season.

"We're looking to hopefully make a push to finish in the top half of the conference on the men's side, which hasn't happened since 2002," noted Paulsen.

"There are a lot of fun and exciting things going on with the Panther distance program."

Men's roster

Mike Cooper, so., Dayton; Steven Dak, jr., Marshalltown; Brett Egan, fr., Waukon; Brady Fritz, so., Iowa City; Omet Kak, fr., Des Moines; Alex Mark, so., Cedar Falls; Jason Mitchell, jr., Cedar Falls; Andrew Nelson, fr., Geneva, Ill.; David Nielsen, so., Cedar Falls; Thibault Vandenabeele, fr., Waterloo, Belgium; Aaron Vosberg, so., Farnhamville.

Women's roster

Lean Blanchard, fr., Cedar Falls; Amy Bowden, fr., Dubuque; Hattie Buikema, fr., Clinton; April Davidshofer, fr., Epworth; Allison Fick, fr., Iowa City; Kate Kelly, fr., Preston; Jill Lageschulte, so., Marshalltown; Mallory Marshall, jr., Center Point; Jessy Martin, fr., Mount Vernon; Danielle Nowasell, so., Grinnell; Carly Olsen, so., Missouri Valley; Kate Price, fr., Iowa Falls; Scotti Schon, fr., Waukon; Jessa Schweitzer, sr., Aurora; Hayley Thomas, fr., Rockford, Ill.; Allie Thompson, fr., Mount Vernon; Holly Tjaden, jr., Manchester; Lindsey Wilkins, fr., Spring Grove, Ill.

2009 schedule

Sept. 4 - at Hawkeye Invitational, Iowa City

Sept. 19 - at Iowa Intercollegiate, Ames

Sept. 26 - at Roy Griak Invitational, Minneapolis

Oct. 10 - at Dan Huston Invitational, Waverly

Oct. 16 - at Bradley Classic, Peoria, Ill.

Oct. 31 - at Missouri Valley Championships, Peoria, Ill.

Nov. 14 - at Midwest Regional Championships, Springfield, Mo.

Nov. 23 - at NCAA Championships, Terre Haute, Ind.

VOLLEYBALL - UNI got everything it wanted out of the season-opening Texas A&M Invitational Friday and Saturday, except for the championship trophy.

The Panthers went 2-1 with straight-set wins over Virginia and Iona before dropping a closely contested 3-1 match to the hosts.

"I was very proud of our kids and the effort, especially for the first weekend," said coach Bobbi Petersen. "I really didn't know what to expect. We had a few new faces out there that we were a little unsure of."

Petersen singled out the play of Ellie Blankenship and Bre Payton. Blankenship averaged 6 1/2 digs per game, while Payton quarterbacked the offense with her setting and scoring.

Overall, Petersen was impressed with her team's defense and less than enthused about its offense.

"I would say we were probably the best defensive team I've seen in our program in all the time I've been here," she noted.

"A lot of our improvement needs to come on the offensive side of things because we're digging a lot of balls but we're not putting over a very good offense. We're pretty tentative. We don't swing hard when we're out of position, and those are some things we're gonna have to change.

"To give you an example, right now our setter (Payton) is leading our team in kills, which is good for our setter but you don't have too many teams where your setter is going to be leading your team in kills."

Five players averaged between 2.4 and 2.7 kills per game in Texas, and Petersen would like to see somebody step up as the Panthers' go-to player on the attack.

"We'd like to see a couple of kids get up to the 4 or 4 1/2 kills per game so we feel like we have that go-to player," she said. "We definitely need some more production from the offensive side of things, and we'll continue to work on that."

UNI plays seven matches over a nine-day stretch, beginning Wednesday when the Panthers host Iowa State. UNI then visits Middle Tennessee for a tournament where the opponents are Northern Illinois and Ohio (3-0) Friday before a Saturday match against Middle Tennessee State (3-0).

WOMEN'S SOCCER - The Panthers are off to a 1-2 start under new head coach James Price, following a season-opening win at South Dakota and losses to North Dakota and Wisconsin-Green Bay.

"We're tending to react to the moment of teams rather than initiate or setting the tone for the game ourselves, so that's something we need to fix," said Price.

"There's gonna be ups and downs throughout the season, and we just want to make sure we keep things in perspective and keep working hard. The best thing about this group of soccer players … it's a bunch of girls who just work really hard for themselves and the school and their soccer team."

UNI will host its Panther Invite Friday and Sunday at the Cedar Valley Soccer Complex. The Panthers meet Missouri-Kansas City Friday at 7:30 p.m., then play Western Michigan at 2 p.m. Sunday.