This weekend's NCAA cross country competitions will have the biggest impact on which teams will be the awarded the highly sought after At-Large bids to qualify for the 2005 NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The meet with the most interest and subsequent bearing on the national scene is the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet hosted by Indiana State at the LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. It is the venue for the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on 21st November.

There will be 77 women and 73 men's teams competing in six separate races. The meet gives teams a chance to have head-to-head competition with other universities outside their region. If a squad handily beats a team that automatically qualifies (Top 2) in their regional qualifier on 12th November, it increases their chances at receiving an At-Large bid.

Mick Byrne's #8 ranked Gaels team will be competing in the Men's White race at 11.40 am - the second race on the docket. Andrew Ledwith is nearly fully recovered from a niggle he picked up bog running back in Ireland and Byrne will cautiously be holding the lad out of Saturday's competition.

Marcus O'Sullivan's Villanova Wildcats, ranked 5th in the Mid-Atlantic region will be competing the Men's Blue race, the first of the day at 11.00 am. Much improved Richard Corcoran from Dublin has secured a spot on the Villanova team. The Irish pair, Sean Conroy and Robbie Wade of Loyola-Chicago will also be in the Men's Blue race along with Butler University's Stephen Murphy.

The top Irish woman is Ava Hutchinson competing for #21 ranked Butler University in the Women's Blue race. Hutchinson's Dundrum South Dublin teammate Michelle Gallagher will be competing for Iona College. Tracey Williams, a first year runner at Iona from Tallaght will compete in the Women's White race with Gallagher.

Conspicuously absent from the Pre-National meet each year is perennial powerhouse and #1 ranked Arkansas on the men's side and 20th ranked Providence College for the women.

John McDonnell's Razorbacks host and compete in the Chile Pepper Invitational, one of the few meets that use a full 10-kilometre course for the men's race. Ray Treacy brings his Providence Friars to the Penn State National meet in State College, Pennsylvania.

Given the success of these coaches in the past decade, you can't argue with the decision to skip the Pre-National meet.

The Penn State Nittany Lion men's cross country team will host the Penn State National at the Penn State Blue Golf Course with 47 teams and a total of over 500 runners taking part in each race. Five of the nation's nine regions will be represented at the event, including national powers Texas A&M, Eastern Michigan, Providence and American University. Other colleges competing include Guelph University out of Canada will also be in attendance along with local and regional rivals, Akron, Kentucky, Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania.

Top-ranked Arkansas will play host to one of the most talented fields to grace the 17th annual Chile Pepper Invitational on the Razorback Cross Country Course at Agri-Park in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In addition to Arkansas, two other nationally ranked programs will be making the trip, including #6 Arizona and #11 Texas-El Paso. There will be 34 universities competing including Abilene Christian, Alabama, Arkansas-Little Rock, Baker, Baylor, Birmingham-Southern College, Boise State, California, Cameron, East Central, Eastern New Mexico, Evangel, Georgia Tech, Houston, Kansas State, Louisiana-Monroe, LSU, Louisiana Tech, Memphis, Miami, Nebraska, New Mexico State, North Texas, Richmond, South Alabama, Southeastern Louisiana, Texas-Arlington, Texas Tech, Tulsa, Wichita State and Wyoming.