The Marquette indoor track season kicked off last Saturday at the Badger Track Classic in Madison. The squad's strength was the distance events.

Juniors Brent Des Roches and Jeremy Williams finished one-two in the mile, with times of 4:18.71 and 4:27.04, respectively. Sophomore Kyle Saginus also won the 3,000-meter event. Looking ahead, these results would seem favorable.

Head coach Dave Uhrich, however, is staying grounded.

"Everything is geared toward the Big East championships," he said.

The championships are on Feb. 18 and 19 in Akron, Ohio. There, the distance runners get one shot to qualify for NCAA action. Until then, they'll have five regular season meets to trim seconds off of their times.

All of Marquette's distance runners ran cross country in the fall. Uhrich believes this is both a positive and a negative.

"The two are somewhat similar," he said. "Cross country and track compliment one another, and that helps the distance runners. The problem is that they're the only Marquette athletes who compete year-round, it can be tricky academically. You also have to be careful that you're not wearing them down."

Uhrich also said he had a rough idea of what the lineup will be for the men and women. The women will cope with the graduation of 3000m All-American Brianna Dahm by using a combination of younger runners.

"We're definitely still learning about the Big East, it's a very tough conference," Uhrich said. "Right now, I'd like to see our distance runners finish in the top half of the conference, but it's awfully early to tell just how difficult that's going to be."

For the men, Des Roches is expected to run number one for Marquette in the 3000m and 5000m. He'll also compete in the mile to tune up for the other two events. Williams will be the front man in the mile. The women's lineup is unsure at this point. A number of freshmen will be put to the test in upcoming weeks, including Marci Farrell and Ashley Schweikl.

"This year will be much tougher than in the past," Des Roches said. "In years before, I might find myself winning meets, whereas now, who knows?"

If Saturday's performance is any indication for the men, it would seem Des Roches and Uhrich are being modest. The squad will have another chance to gauge itself this Saturday at the Minnesota Gold Country Invitational in Minneapolis.