The men's cross country team knows that its season will likely end on Saturday at the Great Lakes Regional in West Lafayette, but that doesn't mean Ball State will race without any goals.
Assistant coach Jim Trautmann said that while the team is not strong enough to qualify for the NCAA Championships, he is hoping the Cardinals can catch other Mid-American Conference teams that they finished behind two weeks ago.
"We're not ready this year to advance to nationals," he said. "That's a goal of the program in the next few years. It could have been a goal this year if we had turned things around earlier and moved guys further up.
"The goal this year is to get the Toledos, Ohios, Kent States and Western Michigans (who finished ahead of BSU in the MAC). We're right there with them. We want to show ourselves where we really are."
In 2001 the Cards finished back in 21st (612 points), with Matt Bliss (70th) and Sal Impelliterri (92nd) the first two to finish. But Bliss is the only departee from last year, and Trautmann hopes the experience will help some this year.
"We're definitely looking to finish better than last year," he said. "We didn't have a particularly strong race last year."
"The regional is a big meet. The guys were younger last year and maybe a little intimidated by it. Now they've been through the paces and know it's not that different than any other meet, especially when we raced against probably two of the (region's) top three teams (Central Michigan and defending NCAA Champion Eastern Michigan) at MAC."
The top two teams from each regional will advance to the NCAA Championships on Nov. 25. There will also be 13 teams throughout the nation who receive at-large bids (selected by a national committee). Trautmann said that this regional could get as many as five of those bids. The top four individuals not with qualifying teams will also advance.
The group Ball State will send to West Lafayette are juniors Impelliterri, Steve Samuel and Aaron Hoover, sophomores Michael Olson and Steve Schilling, and freshmen Jesse Davis and Kyle Hinkelman. Davis was the Cardinals' top finisher at MAC, placing 29th as the BSU took ninth in the team standings.
"Our race at MAC was not bad, but we didn't get better," Trautmann said. "We need to take another step and beat those teams that we can."
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