The cross-country team is traveling to Indiana to compete in the NCAA Pre-Nationals this weekend.

At the meet there will be 79 teams in the men’s race and 80 in the women’s. Teams from all over the country will be participating, including Stanford, the No. 1 men’s team in the nation and Washington, the No. 1 women’s team.

“Not only is it a big meet, it is also going to be the most competition that we face, and the best competition that we face so far,” sophomore Austin Bussing said.

The runners should be familiar with the course, as Pre-Nationals is in the same place as last year.

“It’s a course that a lot of us have set a lot of personal bests on last season and we’re going to go out and try to do that this year too,” sophomore Kaleb Humphreys said.

Last year the men finished 36th of 40, and the women finished 23rd out of 41.

The women’s team is aiming to continue its success after finishing second at Oklahoma State University’s Cowboy Jamboree. They moved up in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association rankings seven places to No. 5, in front of No. 6-ranked Nebraska.

“The last couple of years have been rebuilding years for us,” said Junior Kara Windisch. “It’s good that we were able to prove that we should be up there”.

The men will continue to try to rely on their experience to move forward. The runners have been consistently improving on their times from last year.

“We are trying to get five guys to get under 25 minutes,” Humphreys said. “To do that we are going to have to get in a tight pack and run as a team.”

— Edited by Betsy Cutcliff