IU runners get early look at National Championships this weekend

IU is getting a sneak peak this weekend of what it would be like to run for the National Championship.\nWhile there is not as much at stake in this race, the Hoosiers will get a chance Saturday to run at the Lavern Gibson Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, the site of this year’s National Championship.\nIU coach Ron Helmer is confident that the men’s team, ranked fifth in the Great Lakes Region, will run well. However, he is less certain about where the women’s team might finish.\n“(If) we get a Top 10, it would be a great step forward,” Helmer said, referring to the men’s team. “If (the women) run as well as they did at Minnesota, I expect we will be a far better team, but (finishing) in the top half of the field is a stretch.”\nThe field for this weekend will be broken down into four races: two for the men and two for the women. Seventy-nine men’s teams and 76 women’s teams will be competing.\nThe IU men’s team will run at 11 a.m. in the 8,000 meter Blue Race against 38 other teams, while the women will compete at 12:20 p.m. in the 6,000 meter Blue Race against 37 other teams. \nFollowing this race, the Hoosiers will need to be in top shape as postseason competition begins Oct. 28 in Columbus, Ohio, with the Big Ten Tournament. IU will then host the Great Lakes Regional Championship on Nov. 10, where they must finish in the top two if they hope to return on Nov. 19 to Terre Haute to compete for the National Championship.\nHelmer said the last meet in Minnesota gives a pretty good gauge as to where the Hoosiers are headed.\n“I was happy with (our effort at Minnesota), and it was a good indication of where we are as a team,” Helmer said.