Indianapolis is the site of the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships and four members of the men's team left yesterday morning to compete in the meet this weekend.

Shot putters C.J. Hunter and Phil Caraher and distance runners Steve Brown and Doug Walter arrived in Indianapolis around noon yesterday to get some rest, train a little and get used to the facilities before the meet.

The meet will be held in the Hoosier Dome and assistant coach Bill Whittaker said it is a huge, great facility with a lot of seating for spectators. The track is portable and is made of boards covered with a synthetic surface. It is 200-meters with banked turns and is "conducive to fast times," Walter said.

Hunter first qualified for nationals this season during the first meet with a toss of 62'9" and set a new Indoor Sports Complex record. Phil Caraher qualified with a toss of 60'11" at the Last Chance Invitational.

Whittaker said the favorite in the shot put is Mike Stolce from Texas A&M, who has thrown 70'0" during the season. But Whittaker said that after Stolce, the field is wide open.

Brown qualified for the 5,000-meter run at last weekend's IC4A Championships with a time of 13:52.36, which gave him a first-place finish and set a new meet record.

"Steve's running real well," Whittaker said. "He ran a good race at IC4As, he's really going to do his best."

Walter qualified provisionally for nationals with a time of 4:05.62 in the mile. He found out earlier this week that he would definitely be running in the meet.

"I think I have a pretty good shot," Walter said. "I don't see a clear cut favorite."

He said in previous years there has been at least one person who stuck out in the crowd of runners and was expected to win the race.

In this meet, the top six finishers in each event score and the the top six each earn All-American status.

The Lions have had 15 NCAA champions for both the indoor and outdoor seasons, six in the 1980s. They have also had 45 All-Americans in the 1980s.