Cross Country Gets Ready for NCAA Pre-National Meet
10/16/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
Oct. 16, 2002
The University of Missouri's men's and women's cross country teams are preparing for the NCAA Pre-National Meet this Saturday on the campus of Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. The women, ranked 20th nationally, head into the meet having won all three of their meets this year. Freshmen Valerie Lauver and Amanda Bales have both won individual titles this year and look to lead the Tigers against the nations best teams on the same course that will host the NCAA Championships next month. Head cross country coach Jared Wilmes said, "On the women's side we get to race against some good ranked teams. We get to see the national championship course so we gain experience on that course. To get an at-large bid (to the NCAA Championships) you have to beat ranked teams and we get an opportunity to do that."
On the men's side Coach Wilmes wants his team to get a valuable experience from the meet, "Were a very young team and we're preparing for the future. The men's team has nothing to lose and we are going to this meet to have them be in this situation and have fun with it." The men's and women's teams will be competing against 20 of the Top 25 teams in the country. This is the last meet for the Mizzou harriers before they host the Big 12 Cross Country Championship on November 2nd.
