Men's cross country ready for regionals

Saturday, the No. 20 men's cross country team travels to Purdue for the second time in three weeks. There the Hoosiers race in their most important race to date this season with the Great Lakes Regional meet.\nThe top three teams at the District meet earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships Nov. 25 at Terre Haute. The others may receive an at-large bid if they have enough regular season victories.\nThe Hoosiers expect a top three finish, but should earn an at-large bid if they slip. The district is one of the fiercest in the nation, so a solid performance should earn a bid.\n"It's been a very strange year," coach Robert Chapman said. "I've run just about every possible scenario on paper, and we could be as worse as seventh and still have about a 90 percent chance of making it. Our region has done a good job of getting their wins."\nThe team's top runners all season have been freshmen John and Sean Jefferson. John was named the Big Ten's Freshman of the Year and has twice been named Big Ten Runner of the Week. Sean was Big Ten Runner of the Week once. Both earned All Conference honors two weeks ago, the first Hoosier freshmen since the current five-kilometer American Record holder Bob Kennedy did so in 1988.\nAlso looking to score for the team are junior Bart Phariss, sophomore Tom Burns and freshman Eric Redman. \nChapman said earlier that he expects the team's sixth and seventh runners to close the gap between the team's pack. Several of the runners were forced to begin their training late this summer. He said sophomore Nathan Purcell and freshman Stephen Haas should start coming around.\nThe distance for the Regional meet will jump from the eight kilometer races the Hoosier's have been racing to ten kilometers. Chapman said the team views this as a benefit.\n"In cross country, we train more strength oriented, so it fits for us," Chapman said. "We look at it as a help, while other teams are intimidated by it."\nThirty teams will meet at Purdue, seven of which are nationally ranked. No. 4 Wisconsin are favorites, coming off a dominant performance at Big Ten Championships. Also competing are No. 7 Eastern Michigan, No. 9 Central Michigan, No. 17 Ohio State, No. 18 Michigan, No. 21 Butler and No. 28 Michigan State.\nThe meet will begin at 12:30 at the Varsity Cross Country Course.