Indiana Open kicks off season

The nationally ranked men's cross country team heads into its first meet tonight in one of the few home meets for the Hoosiers this season. \nThe Indiana Open features Eastern Illinois, IU-Purdue University at Indianapolis, IU-Purdue University at Fort Wayne, Ball State and Miami of Ohio. While the opponents aren't ranked along with IU, the Hoosiers said they have several goals to accomplish at this meet.\nThe first being to gain experience for the younger runners. This allows them to get the feel of a college cross country meet so they are not as nervous later in the season, members said. \n"This is a great experience for the young guys," senior Kevin Chandler said. "For some of them, it is the first time they get to wear an Indiana jersey." \nThis meet can be invaluable later because it allows young runners to build confidence in their abilities, members said. \n"The meet helps the young guys adjust to the longer distances run in college and allows us to see what some of the young guys can do," senior Doug Paley said. \nThis meet can also be used to evaluate what kind of shape the runners are in. Some Hoosiers said they feel it is important to see what kind of results the Hoosier's training has been able to accomplish. \n"This is one of the deepest teams in the Big Ten," coach Robert Chapman said. \nThis will be the first chance to look at the depth in a meet situation. It will be an opportunity for someone to step up to fill first-team, All-Big Ten Aaron Gillen's shoes.\n"At this point, I do not know who is going to step up, but there are several guys who could," Chapman said.\nAlthough not every team member will be running, this meet marks the beginning of the season, and gets the team into the season mode. Chandler and the team have had a long summer of training, and now is the time to put that training to use.\n"The guys are ready to get this season started after all the hard work put in at practice," Chandler said.