Runners look to qualify

Saturday, the women's cross country team will compete in the biggest meet of the season at the Great Lakes Regional meet in Terre Haute. This meet determines the qualifiers for the National Championship.\nThe Hoosiers will compete against strong competition with three of the 33 teams ranked nationally. They will also run against four Big Ten schools that defeated the Hoosiers at the Big Ten Championship.\nTuesday, the IU runners had a workout at the Regional course. They will practice on the course one last time before the race Friday. They said they hope that knowing the course a little bit will help them. \n"It's nice to have run on the course," sophomore Becky Obrecht said. "We're a little more familiar with it now. It's pretty straightforward."\nCoach Judy Bogenschutz said she also likes the idea of seeing the course beforehand.\n"They just try to get an idea, to get a mental picture of the course," she said. "It gives them a sense of what is coming up. They are a little more confident."\nLast season, the Regional meet was a break-out meet for many IU runners. Bogenschutz said she hopes this will give some confidence to her runners.\n"They need to know that anything can happen in any race," she said. "All I can do is tell them where they're at physically. We have to go into the race thinking this could be the race."\nObrecht was one of those runners who had a break out meet last year. She hadn't run in the previous three races but helped the Hoosiers to a fourth place finish by placing fifth for the team. She said she hopes the team will use that as an inspiration. \n"All of us girls are really motivated to prove to our ourselves that we can do it," Obrecht said.\nFreshman Mindy Peterson said the significance of the race is enough motivation.\n"I don't want to save anything," Peterson said. "This is the race I've been training for since this summer and racing for all season. I want to run up with the people I should run with."\nBogenschutz said the team is physically ready to race. Mentally, they need to prepare better.\n"We just didn't have people thinking positively at the Big Ten meet," she said. "Individually they need to focus themselves and run so that they can place as high as they can."\nObrecht said the team needs to run next to each other, in a pack near the front like they do in practice. Peterson said the team should be bold.\n"If we go out and take a risk, we should be able to run our best race"