The men’s cross country team will head to Carbondale Saturday for the NCAA Regional meet where they will compete with teams from across the Midwest for a chance at the NCAA championship race.

They will be using the momentum from their Ohio Valley Conference championship title earned Oct. 27 at Eastern Kentucky

“Last week was pretty slow because we’re a little banged up from the hilly course at conference,” head coach John McInerney said. “This week has been real solid. We’ve had quality work this week.”

Eastern will be looking for a team qualification to the NCAA race, but come into this weekend’s race in a No. 7 position. Defending regional champion Oklahoma State is the favorite coming out of the Big 12 Conference with several conference championship teams trailing behind. Loyola comes out on top of the Horizon League and Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley Conference championship while Nebraska, Minnesota, and Iowa round out the top seven with the Panthers.

“It’s just a great field,” McInerney said. “Oklahoma State is the definite favorite, but after that it’s pretty wide open.”

The top two teams out of the regional meet earn an automatic bid to the NCAA race Nov. 19 in Greenville, S.C. To qualify as a team, Eastern would need to place five runners in the top 25.

“We need four guys to pack behind me,” senior Jason Bialka said. “Team-wise, this is one of the weaker years. There’s Oklahoma, but it’ll all come down to who runs well.”

With a field of 30 eligible teams invited to Southern Illinois, packing together will be difficult, but necessary for the Panthers.

“That’s going to be our key,” McInerney said. “They need to be up in good, solid position. We had four guys run solid at the OVC meet, but we need five or six.

“We’re trying to pack guys together throughout the race. It’s a 10,000, not an 8,000, so it’s a mental game. The race goes out cautiously. We need to weather the early mental pressure.”

Eastern will be led by Bialka, who finished fifth last year to earn All-Regional honors and an individual bid to the NCAA meet. Bialka comes off a first-place finish at the OVC race two weeks ago.

“We’re keying on having Jay up in the lead group,” McInerney said. “It helps having one of the top individual to cut the score down.

Bialka will not only look to be among the lead pack, but improve upon last year’s performance.

“I’ve basically singled out the main competition and it’s a wide-open race,” Bialka said. “I’m focusing on running hard, but relaxed.”