The Ball State women's cross country team travels to the Loyola Lakefront Invitational this weekend in hopes of building off last weekend's results.
The Cardinals dominated the George Dales Invitational, winning it by finishing with three runners taking the top three spots.
Rose Lehe won the invitational, with Vanessa Gilbert and Amanda Ponsot finishing second and third, respectively.
"It was really good to see both of them up there with Rose," coach Sue Parks said.
Lehe has now won three consecutive meets and this week was named Mid-American Conference Cross Country Runner of the Week.
"She's certainly had a good start to her season," Parks said. "These are the tougher meets coming up. I expect her to continue to run well. I just want her to compete well and run competitively."
While Lehe, Gilbert and Ponsot are off to good starts, Parks wants to see some of her other runners step up and narrow the time gap.
"We need to see if we can do that in a bigger meet situation," Parks said. We'll see if we can keep that gap small."
Ball State will be running against 27 other teams this weekend, which should be good preparation for later this season. The Cardinals' toughest challenge will be Marquette.
"It makes for a tougher start," Parks said. "It's good for us to get used to it, and we're not afraid of it."
Parks hopes to see Lehe finish in the top five, with Gilbert and Ponsot finishing in the top 20.
"We're right where we want to be right now," Parks said. "As long as we continue to improve until conference rolls around, we should be fine."
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