While the majority of the nation's cross country teams will conclude their season at one of the nine NCAA Regional Championships on Saturday, members of the Marquette men and women's squads are looking to keep the season going just a little bit longer.
Marquette will try to earn an extension at the Great Lakes Regional in West Lafayette, Ind., where they will attempt to qualify for the 2008 NCAA Cross Country Championships on Nov. 24.
In order to do so, the teams will have to finish in either first or second as a team, or be one of the 13 at-large teams selected by the NCAA Division I Track and Field subcommittee on Sunday.
The Marquette women will be looking to reclaim what used to be an annual spot in the Championships after the 2006 team broke a string of six straight national appearances. But despite the disappointment the last two seasons, junior Anna Weber was confident this year's team has what it takes to earn a spot to compete against the nation's elite.
While getting one of the automatic qualifying positions would be nice, coach Mike Nelson said the women have a more realistic chance of receiving an at-large bid
"The women are poised to qualify as a team," Nelson said. "But not only do we have to run well, other teams have to fall in line. We know that we have to get fourth and beat Notre Dame, and we can do that if they go out and run just a little bit better than at the" Big East Championships.
Because Big Ten schools like Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin all appear too talented to overcome, the Golden Eagles' chance to move on might just come down to outdistancing the Fighting Irish.
In its only competition against Notre Dame this season, the Marquette women came up 116 points behind the Fighting Irish at the Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 3. Although the results might hinge upon beating one team, junior Anna Weber said that her and her teammates are more focused on what they can control — themselves.
"We're starting to think that we don't have to worry what other teams and other people do," Weber said. "We just need to run our best race and the way we're capable of running, and the shot at Nationals is very, very real."
As for the men, Nelson knows the chance of advancing is very slim. For fifth-year senior Kyle Saginus, however, this race presents the last opportunity to make it to college's most prestigious cross country race.
"Kyle definitely has a good shot at going individually," Nelson said. "He's been looking great in practice and there's been no change from anything we've done before."
In order to qualify, assuming Marquette as a team doesn't qualify, Saginus must be one of the top four individual finishers not on an advancing team, or one of two at-large competitors selected by the committee.
Saginus said he has been preparing for this race his entire career.
"I've wanted to (qualify for Nationals) every year since I'm come here," Saginus said. "I've worked for it every season. This is my last shot, and I really want to make it. It'd cap off my career for sure."