Hoosiers hope to utilize momentum heading into Saturday's meet

This Saturday the IU men's cross-country team heads to Terre Haute to run against some of the best teams in the nation. More than 80 NCAA Division I teams from four regions will meet at Indiana State.\nConsidered to be the toughest meet so far this season, the course hardly compares to the Hoosiers' home course, assistant coach Stephen Haas said.\n"It's not as tough as our course is, but the hardest part for us will be getting a fast pace from the get-go," he said. "It's going to be a lot bigger and a lot faster. There's a lot of tough competition."\nThe 8K race is shaping up to be a contest of will over strength, but freshman Jordan Kyle said the only thing left to chance is the weather. Kyle -- who recorded his first career meet win at George Mason University with a career-best 8K time of 24:45.36 -- led IU to the Invitational title. Behind him finished junior Brennon Plotner in third (25:08.50), sophomore Mark Fruin in fourth (25:09.40), sophomore Timothy McLeod in sixth (25:15.97) and senior Marcus Aguilar in ninth (25:22.01).\nThe team has already been to ISU's course a couple times, Kyle said, so there should not be any surprises about how the race is run.\n"Our goal as a team is to see if we can get to Nationals," he said, "and what we're trying to do is get enough wins so that we can advance to Nationals later in the year. We want at least two wins, hopefully three."\nAssistant coach Nathan Gooden said although all the top teams in the country will be coming in Saturday, the Hoosiers' biggest competition will be moving up to where they can run with the top teams in the country.\n"Frequently in practice we attempt to put our athletes in situations that they're going to see later down the road in competition," Gooden said.\nThough the teams will be split between two races Saturday, there have been no specifics released by ISU as of yet.\n"Due to circumstances beyond the control of the NCAA Track and Field Committee and Indiana State University, the announcement of the race assignments for the Pre-Nationals Meet, Saturday, Oct. 14, will be delayed until noon Friday, Oct. 13," Mark A. Bockelman, assistant director of championships for ISU athletics, said in a statement. "The race assignments will be posted on the Indiana State and NCAA Web sites when available."\nThe uncertainty of the race time does not seem to daunt the team. Kyle said the team is hoping to run as well as it can this weekend. Runners have cut down on their practice miles to leave their legs fresher for Saturday.\n"Our goal for the past seven years has been to go out and win, and wins are important when it comes down to making the NCAAs," Haas said. "Some years we've gotten to Nationals on two wins, and sometimes it takes more. We're definitely trying at those meets to be on top"