Team hopes to add wins before regionals

The IU women's cross country team will compete Saturday in Terre Haute at the Pre-NCAAs, a race where the team will look to help pave the road to a nationals appearance.\nIU coach Judy Wilson said the meet is important to the team because the team needs to accumulate wins over other teams before its regional meet, the NCAA Great Lakes Regional, and ultimately prove its worthiness of an appearance at a nationals meet that is only 5 1/2 weeks away.\nSenior, and longtime member of the Hoosiers' top five, Mindy Peterson shared coach Wilson's sentiments and said she felt that wins before the regional meet are important.\n"Toward the end of the season, (this meet) decides if we get the bid to nationals, so our goal isn't necessarily to peak right now," Peterson said. "It's just to get to nationals."\nCoach Wilson said the team's performance on an individual level is important, as well.\n"This is a big meet in terms of seeing how we do against other teams," Wilson said. "(It's important) to show our people how close they are to their people."\nWilson said she wants to see, for example, how her second-place runner runs in comparison to Illinois' second- or third-place runner.\nWilson is looking to her runners to perform at what she calls their top fitness levels at the meet Saturday. Junior Kelly Siefker said she thinks individual confidence is vital.\n"Knowing you can run with anybody (is the key)," Siefker said.\nPeterson agreed with her teammate, adding that the team needs to be less conservative.\n"You've just got to go out there and run with confidence and take risks," Peterson said.\nWilson said that her runners did not do this at the Great American Cross Country Festival two weeks ago. \n"We need to try to get people to really hurt," Wilson said.\nCompeting in the race for IU will be freshmen Christina Barniak, Nikki Peterson and Maura Ratcliff, sophomores Jessica Gall, Lindsay Hattendorf and Kristin Whitezell, juniors Ashley Groth, Siefker, Allison Miller and Larra Overton, and seniors Mindy Peterson and Julie Shields.\nThe meet has traditionally been run at Terre Haute on Indiana State University's LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. This is the same course where the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be held.\nOf the 30 nationally ranked schools, 24 will be competing at this weekend's event.\nThe Pre-NCAA meet consists of 31 different teams this year, including fellow Big Ten schools Ohio State, Northwestern, Illinois, Iowa, No. 3 Michigan, No. 17 Michigan State, Minnesota and Purdue.\nThe Michigan Wolverines are the top-ranked team in attendance and are followed closely by the No. 4 ranked Colorado Buffalos and the No. 7 Arizona State Sun Devils.\n-- Contact staff writer Andy Romey at aromey@indiana.edu.