The men's track and field team will host a tri-meet against Shippensburg and Glennville State at 3:30 today at the Indoor Sports Complex.

This meet will give many developing members of the team an opportunity to compete. Coach Harry Groves said that if the newer athletes are going to do well and develop, they need to compete in meets.

"The level of the meets we've been competing in has been so high, so this meet will be a good opportunity for some of the guys who haven't been able to compete much," Groves said.

One of the main purposes of this meet, like so many others, is to qualify more athletes for the IC4A Championships.

Groves said the team still needs to qualify athletes in the 600-yard run, the 1,000-meter run and the distance medley relay.

"Basically it's one of the last chances we have to qualify. It's a small track so you really have to work to go after it," Groves said.

Joe Stegbauer will run the 800-meter leg of the distance medley relay for the Lions.

"I think we have the people to qualify and do it pretty easily," Stegbauer said.

Stegbauer will also run the 600, which is a shorter distance than he is used to running. He said he will run the race to work on his speed.

Jon Strange will also run the 600, but he is running the race to qualify for the IC4As in the 500. Strange said a runner's time in the 600 is converted into a time for the 500. He added that there are not a lot of opportunities to run a 500 during the regular season.

Strange qualified in the 400 last weekend for IC4As with a time of 49.51.

"It was nice to qualify, but I'd rather run in the 500 than the 400," Strange said.

Tri-captain Barry Walsh will not be competing with the Lions this weekend. Walsh will travel to Baton Rouge, La., for the National TAC Pentathlon on Sunday.

The TAC meet is essentially the U.S. pentathlon championship. The meet will consist of collegiate and non-collegiate athletes and the competition will be very tough.

"I'm just going to go down and do my best in every event to get myself ready for IC4As," Walsh said.