With the Mid-American Conference Championships looming in a month, the women's cross country team travels to South Bend on Friday to compete in the Notre Dame Invitational.
Last year Ball State placed fourth, although head coach Sue Parks said the competition in 2001 was not as strong as it will be this time.
"There will be 24 teams there, a few of which are ranked," Parks said. "It will be just as tough as (last week's meet at) Minnesota. We go to this every year because it's close and it's good competition. Last year we were fourth (with 114 points; Notre Dame won with 58). Ten or so teams are like us, so we could end up anywhere from sixth to 15th."
Stanford is currently ranked third, Notre Dame is fifth and Wisconsin is 18th, and Calvin College is ranked fourth in Division III. The Cardinals will be joined by MAC teams Akron, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Western Michigan.
"Akron and Central Michigan have been running strong lately, so it will be good to see how we stack up against them," Parks said.
The Cardinals have had some strong individual performances this year, and Parks is looking to string a lot of them together on Friday,
"We're hoping to see a total team effort," she said. "If we get that it'll give a good indication where we are. The key with our team is, knowing we're probably not going to place anyone in the top 10, to have our top five runners close together, especially within the 20-40 range.
"We didn't do that at Minnesota (where the Cards finished 13th) and it hurt us. If we do that, it can make up for not having a front-runner."
Right now, Parks sees the top five as being seniors Stacey Ritz and Katie Nowak, junior Crystal Meeks and sophomores Jill Scully and Sarah Huddleston.
"If they all have a good day, that's a solid group," she said. "They can get up into the top third, and that's what we need to do to succeed."
In the 2001 race, Nowak was fifth in a time of 17:35. Ritz placed 15th (18:00), Scully 32nd and Huddleston 33rd (both in 18:27) and Meeks 59th (18:48).
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