For the Penn State men's cross country team, the season is a process that builds up with each race being a step towards a destination.

The cross country team continues this process tomorrow with the James Madison University Open.

They will face three teams: Virginia Military Institute, George Mason and James Madison.

The race begins at 10:30 a.m.

"The process has begun," said runner Ben Goldberg, talking about the length of a cross-country season and how a team develops.

"I think the team has come together," Goldberg said.

He explained that the team has been able to run together in practice.

The process began earlier in the month when the season began on Sept. 7 with the Spiked Shoe Invitational, which included 15 collegiate teams.

The team came in second to No. 25 Oklahoma State at the invitational.

Tomorrow's race will only include four teams.

While Penn State men's cross country coach Harry Groves said cross country teams do not typically change their practice routines to exploit the weaknesses of an opponent like many other sports, this race will allow the runners to run more man-on-man.

With so many runners in the Spiked Shoe Invitational, the cross country team couldn't concentrate on man-on-man running, Groves said.

He said that would not be the case tomorrow because the runners would be able to concentrate on individual members of other teams who are near them.

Junior Scott Munro is optimistic about tomorrow's race.

"I expect to go out there and win the meet," Munro said.

Groves talked about the expectations for the race, saying that the team always expects to win.

"If we can't try to win," Groves said, "there is no reason to go."

Munro said the team is concentrating on preparing for the Big Ten Championships and NCAA regionals at the end of the season.

"Every race is a building process," Munro said.

"We are trying to get focused on running together."

Tomorrow's race will be the second step in a process to become one of the elite teams in the Big Ten.