Runners look for bids to championship

The men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Ames, Iowa this weekend to take on a majority of the top 25 teams in the Pre-NCAA Invitational. This meet gives the teams a chance to test the course before the NCAA Championships are held there Nov. 20. \nThe invitational boasts 66 men's and women's teams, making it the largest meet the Hoosiers have ever run. \nAfter last week's fifth place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational, the men's team has moved into the national rankings at No. 22. The men's mission at Pre-NCAAs is clear: beat as many ranked teams as possible. \n"Our goal is top 12 or top 15," freshman Bart Phariss said. "We just want to keep getting momentum and climbing up in the rankings." \nAnother solid performance this weekend would help secure their bid to nationals.\nThe team's strategy for accomplishing the goal is to simply go out and run strong races. \nThe women's team said they look at this meet as a chance to prove that last week's disappointing 12th place finish was just a fluke.\nAs with the men's team, the women said they want to surpass as many teams as possible with the ultimate goal of going to the NCAA Championship.\nSophomore Amanda Bell said the team was a bit shaken up by last week's meet. But she said the team should be able to pull itself together and excel on the 6K course.\nBell said she is aiming high for this meet.\n"I need to go out there and take a risk," Bell said. "And the risk that I'm going to be taking is staying with the top 20 girls and hanging on until I die"