The men's track and field team will be split three ways this weekend. Two shot putters are going to Princeton, a two-mile relay team is going to Notre Dame and the rest of the team is hosting a meet here.

C.J. Hunter and Phil Caraher will compete at the TAC shot put championships today, while Doug Walter, Aidan O'Reilly, Mark Anderson and Joe Stegbauer will run the two-mile relay and try to qualify for the NCAA Championships.

"Our main aim is to qualify for nationals," O'Reilly said. "It requires everybody having a good day. There's no room for a weak link in the chain."

The Lions hope to qualify by taking advantage of the excellent track and stiff competition from George Mason, Arkansas, Villanova, Georgetown and Clemson.

"Notre Dame has a big one-fifth mile indoor track. If you can't run fast on the Notre Dame track, you can't run fast," Coach Harry Groves said.

The rest of the Lions will host the Last Chance Invitational at the Indoor Sports Complex. This meet is the last opportunity for athletes to qualify for the IC4A Championships, which will be held next weekend. Rutgers and Manhattan College among others will be represented.

"We get a lot of bits and pieces from a lot of different schools and clubs," Groves said. "Every team has people they're trying to qualify, or in some cases, they've got people they just want to keep sharp. It's always a good meet because a lot of other teams are trying to do the same thing we are.

Last weekend pentathlete Barry Walsh competed at the National TAC Championships in Texas. The meet included collegiate as well as non-collegiate athletes from around the country. Walsh finished the meet in sixth place with a point total of 3,833; however, Walsh was less than pleased with his performance.

"I didn't have enough confidence in a lot of the events. My head was totally out of it," Walsh said.

Walsh finished the 60-meter dash in 8.77, the long jump with 21'4¾", the high jump with 6'3½", the shot put with 48'6¼" and the 1,000-meter run in 2:44.32. Walsh is ready for the week of practice before the IC4As.

He said he needs to concentrate on the hurdles and the long jump.

"It'll be a week of hard work. I know for ICs I'll be competing hard," Walsh said.