The Columbia cross-country team faces its biggest test yet in Saturday’s Pre-National meet at Indiana State University. The Pre-National meet serves as a preview of the National Championship meet, which will be held on Nov. 19th, also at Indiana State University. It will be Columbia’s first meet this year against teams on a national stage. The Lions are just one of 84 teams from around the country in the field.

On the men’s side, 27 of the nation’s top 30 teams are entered for the meet. The competition is just as stiff for the women, as 24 of the 30 ranked teams are entered in the race.

This Pre-National meet is an important opportunity for any team looking to solidify a spot at the national championships in November. A strong showing by the Lions at Indiana State this weekend will help prove that Columbia runners can compete on a national level and will serve as a strong motivating force for the selection committee. Because of the abnormally large number of teams competing, the NCAA has split the meet into two separate races: the blue race and the white race, Indiana State’s colors. Columbia’s men and women will be racing in the blue race.

In the men’s blue race, the Lions will face four of the nation’s top 10 men’s squads, including the number-two team in Division I, Wisconsin. The Columbia men will also face number-four Iona, number-six Oklahoma State, number-eight Alabama, and 34 other squads. Thirteen of the 39 schools in the men’s blue race are nationally ranked. The 8000-meter race will begin at 11 a.m.

The women’s blue race pits the Light Blue against national-number-one Stanford, along with number-four Minnesota, number-seven Rice, and number-nine Michigan. Twelve total nationally ranked teams are featured in the 38-team meet. The women’s race is 6000 meters long and will begin at 12:20 p.m.

Although the Lions will face some of the toughest cross-country squads in the nation, a convincing performance by the Columbia team can vault them into a spot in the Nov. 19th national championships.