The Dayton women's cross country team has had a strong season up to this point finishing first or second in four of the team's five meets this year. The women harriers also placed 28th overall at the NCAA Pre-National meet in Terre Haute, Indiana on October 16.

 This weekend the team is heading to the Atlantic 10 Championship meet in St. Louis, Missouri. "It's probably the biggest meet that we focus on for the entire year," head coach Ann Alyanak said. "And the only other teams that we've seen (from the A-10 this season) are Xavier and Charlotte. Although we haven't seen most of these teams this year, we keep track of what they are doing and there's weekly A-10 polls that the coaches vote on so we kind of have an idea of where we stack up."

 Alyanak, who has been on maternity leave for most of the season but still keeps up on the team, touched on some of the team's success. "So far the team has run great," Alyanak said.

 "We've had top-two finishes at every meet besides pre nationals. And pre-nationals was extremely competitive and we had a good showing there."

Junior standout Maureen Bulgrin has been one of the standouts for the Flyers all season. "She's had a great season," Alyanak said. "She won the first three races which is a big feat to do at collegiate races. She should also have a strong showing at the conference meet. I would expect her to be up toward the front along with (junior) Liz Coorey and (sophomore) Elissa Mason they've all been running really well this year."

 Alyanak said that the entire team qualified for the Flyers' NCAA Regional meet on November 14 in Bloomington, Indiana. "At regionals I think we are capable of having our best finish in school history," Alyanak said. "We've been ranked in the top 15 in our region all season and that would be huge for us to finish in the top 15."

 With the strength of the region the Flyers fall into, a top 15 finish is a tall order but it's one that Alyanak and her runners are up for. "We've got some good powerhouse teams in there,"

Alyanak said. "Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Indiana; it's a tough region." With the season winding down Alyanak said the training regimen now shifts to train the girls on the team to have their best and fastest performances at the end of the season. It's what's referred to as "peaking" in cross country and the timing of it is crucial. If the process is started to early it can cause runners to burn out and not perform their best. "We're doing some shorter, quicker stuff now," Alyanak said. "And the volume has definitely decreased so we're looking to freshen up their legs so they're feeling good."

 And it will hopefully be the team that's feeling good and moving on to the NCAA National meet after a stop in Bloomington, Indiana along the way.