Ball State is heading to Ypsilanti, Mich. for the Great LakesRegional in hopes of advancing to the NCAA Cross CountryChampionships for the second time in three years.
The Cardinals, led by senior Jill Scully, finished second at theMid-American Conference Championships and are looking for a betterperformance after they fell by two points to Kent State.
"We all have to be mentally and physically ready," Scully said."And I think we're there. We've had two good weeks oftraining."
The top two teams and the top four other individualsautomatically qualify for the NCAAs. On Sunday, the Track and FieldCommittee will select 13 at-large teams and two at-largeindividuals from the NCAA's nine regions. Thirty-one teams and 38individuals will qualify for the NCAA Division 1 Championships.
"We need to break into the top six," coach Sue Parks said."We've got some really strong teams; we're in one of the best ifnot the best regionals in the country. There's about six goodteams, and there's a few of them we know we can compete with."
In preparation for the regional, Ball State returned to it'soriginal training routine.
"We kind of backed off before the MAC," Scully said. "We decidedto go back at it for the regionals."
Everyone agrees that, while the Cardinals have scored victoriesover some of the region's top schools, they will have to have theirbest race over the weekend to advance.
Other teams in the Great Lakes Regional include No. 4 Michigan,No. 6 Notre Dame, No. 13 Michigan State, No. 16 Illinois, No. 27Indiana and No. 30 Butler. Ball State has earned victories overButler and Indiana earlier in the season.
"As a team, if we have a good race, if we have a good teamshowing, we have a chance," Scully said. "I'm going to do my bestto stick with IU's Jessica Gall and hopefully get in the top 10 orthe top 15.
"Hopefully I'll advance with the team; obviously that's the maingoal."
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