Runners prepare for Notre Dame meet

After last weekend's unsuccessful performance at the Roy Griak Invitational, the men's cross country team wanted a chance for redemption. This weekend will be their first opportunity for that at the Notre Dame Invitational.\nThe Hoosiers, who dropped out of the Top 25 in the nation and fell to sixth in the Great Lakes Region after last weekend, face several tough opponents competing in the region. Notre Dame is ranked fifth in the nation and first in the region; Big Ten foe Ohio State is ranked eighth in the region; and Butler is ranked ninth in the Great Lakes Region. \nThe Hoosiers will try to improve on their strong showing from last season.\nMembers of the team said they realize talent alone will not win meets, and they do not want to overlook anybody at the Notre Dame Invitational. \n"We just need to realize that just because we are training so well right now, victories will not be handed to us," freshman Tom Burns said. "We just need to go compete hard and beat some teams at the next few meets."\n"We have to put that (performance) together on race day," junior Chris Powers said.\nLast season, the team put together one of its best performances at Notre Dame, finishing fifth. The team built on the success from that meet last year, finishing with one of its best seasons. \n"We have to run the Notre Dame meet and run well," junior Chad Andrews said. "This will help us get into (pre-nationals)."\nBurns said he doesn't feel the goals for the meet are complicated.\n"Our goals are to just run how we should have at Griak. Plain and simple, we just have to run fast," he said.