Miami University's men's and women's cross-country teams will be two of over 120 schools competing in the Pre-Nationals meet at the University of Louisville Saturday.
This group includes 15 nationally ranked teams.
Men's Head Coach Warren Mandrell knows the competition will be tough.
"Hopefully we'll be competitive; there will be a whole lot of teams," Mandrell said. "Several teams are nationally ranked. It tends to be very competitive."
The men are ranked 11th in the NCAA Great Lakes region. The only Mid-American Conference (MAC) school ranked higher than the 'Hawks is Eastern Michigan University at sixth.
The RedHawks hope to compete with their top two runners: senior Jarrod Eick and redshirt senior Steve Kiplagat. Both Eick and Kiplagat missed the last meet with minor injuries.
"We hope they will run; that's the plan," Mandrell said. "They both looked good and back to normal in a hard workout on Friday."
Eick believes he will race Saturday.
"I'm trying to get back into [racing] after missing the last meet," Eick said. "I'm trying to get back into the swing of things."
As for the team, Eick expects the RedHawks' to be a tough competitor in the large field.
"We want to finish in the top half of the race," Eick said.
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Eick is not looking past this meet, but he thinks it will show where the 'Hawks stand.
"I'm looking forward to it; [the team] hopes to use it as preparation for the MAC Championships," Eick said.
The women have a simplified approach to the Pre-Nationals.
"There is not a specific place we are hoping for," sophomore Jess Hoover said.
Hoover has led the women in every meet this year and is looking forward to running against the nation's best runners.
"[The meet] will be fun; I have never ran the course before," Hoover said. "There are teams from across the nation; I'm excited to see how I run."
The women are ranked 10tb in the NCAA Great Lakes Region and two MAC schools, Toledo University and rival Ohio University, are ranked third and ninth, respectively.
Hoover hopes to perform well against the schools the women will see at the MAC Championships Oct. 27 and again at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championship Nov. 9.
"It would be nice to beat the MAC schools," Hoover said.
Hoover and Head Coach Kelly Phillips both said two weeks ago that the women's team needs to work on running as a team, and that they achieved that goal at the Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational, where they had a 32 second difference between the team's first and last finisher. They have the same goal Saturday.
"We want to run together and toward the front," Hoover said.
Despite the amount of schools and talent that in attendance Saturday, Hoover gave a somewhat simple team goal.
"We need to race smart, and have fun."
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