The members of the men's cross country team have run hundreds of miles in training this season, all to prepare for the next eight days.

The No. 17 Lions' year will either be deemed a success or failure depending on how they perform in the Big Ten Championship meet Sunday and the NCAA Regional Championships on Nov. 14.

Coach Harry Groves said that his team is coming into this weekend's meet, held at Michigan State, totally focused on the task at hand.

"The conference championship is one of the most important meets of the year," he said. "It is a fast race and highly competitive. You don't look beyond it."

Penn State's greatest competition will come from No. 3 Wisconsin, No. 14 Michigan and Indiana, whose lead runner, Bob Kennedy, is attempting to win his fourth consecutive Big Ten individual title.

Although Wisconsin seems unbeatable, it could be possible for the Lions to pull off a second-place finish in the meet. The team will be carrying a bit of momentum into East Lansing on Sunday as its best performer, Bob Hamer, will be returning from injury. Also, Jake Bartholomy has recently emerged as a force for the Lions.

Captain Mark Wimmer said that one of the Lions' main goals is to improve their performance over last fall.

"We (the team) were disappointed with fourth place last year and we want to show we can do better," he said.

Once again, however, Penn State's weakness remains the lack of a competitive fifth man to round out the scoring. Thus, the pressure will fall upon Jonathan Pritchard, Leif Steiner, and Steve Oliver, one of whom must fill in the gap on Sunday.

Oliver said that he, along with Steiner and Pritchard, will mentally be up for the task.

"We will work with each other," he said. "And I'll hang with the big guys as far as I can. I want to show that Penn State is for real."