The UD men's cross country team will head into the National Catholic Invitational in South Bend this weekend.

The team features sophomore Mike Andersen, who will try and duplicate the success he registered in last week's performance in the Flyer 5K Challenge in Kettering, Ohio.

'Mike Andersen is more mentally tough than any other runner I've met,' senior runner Matt Manning said. 'He has the potential to win the National Catholic Invitational. His life revolves around the running and he's very dedicated.'

Andersen won the event in 15:21, just four seconds shy of the meet record en route to Atlantic 10 Conference Performer of the Week honors. There were also four runners for the Flyers finishing between 18th and 23rd place, lifting the team to an overall second place finish. The tandem included senior Eric Contreras, sophomore Matt Peters, junior Dan Sammons and senior David Berning.

Sophomore Tom Middleton and senior Matt Danis also finished among the top seven UD runners.

'It was very rewarding to see the team achieve the pack running results at the Flyer 5K that we strive for in practice,' said Coach Richard Jacobs, who is in his tenth season atop the UD program. 'This is the kind of team effort needed to raise our standing to the top half of the A-10 Championships in October.'

The team is led by seven seniors, who are stressing teamwork and hard work, as they want to have a very successful last season in a UD uniform. This senior group includes second team ESPN The Magazine all-district academic team award recipient Contreras, who is anxiously awaiting this weekend's event.

'We had the past weekend off,' Contreras said. 'We put in three very challenging workouts in a span of four days. Now we are starting to rest our bodies and mentally gear up for the Catholic Championshps. We're feeling very confident after accomplishing so much in practice.'

The event will be the first 8K event of the year for the Flyers, and according to Manning, this will be the flattest course that the team will compete on this year. Flat courses generally produce personal-best times for runners.

UD will race against 33 other teams, along with five other A-10 teams. The field includes last year's upset winner Duquesne, along with a traditionally strong Notre Dame team.

Traveling with the men to South Bend Friday is the women's cross country team.

Youngsters lead the way for the team this season, as four of the top seven runners at the last weekend's Flyer 5K are freshmen. However, this year's squad is very deep with talent, so many runners will get a chance to help out the team.

'Having a deep team helps out a lot, because if one person has a bad meet, other girls will step up and make a difference in the race,' said sophomore runner Ellen Nienhaus.

Freshman Kristin Terry led the way for the Flyers with an 18th place finish, while senior Dianne Striebel, sophomore Jacqueline Jaworek, freshman Bridget Conlon, Nienhaus, freshman Alex Miles and fellow classmate Angela Conlon rounded out the top seven UD runners in last weekend's Flyer 5K Challenge.

'I was pleased with last weekend,' second-year Head Coach Ann Alyanak said. 'It was a decent start and was a good race to get back into the racing mentality and for the freshmen to experience collegiate racing. I think as the season progresses and we gain more experience we are going to see a great deal of improvement.'

The team will compete against a field of 34 teams, including fellow Catholic powers Notre Dame, Loyola, and A-10 rivals Xavier, Duquesne, and Saint Louis. The team is hoping to finish strong like past years at this event, and improve upon individual times from last week. According to Nienhaus, this invitational is some of the best competition the team will face.

'My goal for the team is to place in the top four and have everyone improve their times,' Alyanak said. 'The team has competed at this event for at least the last ten years, if not longer; it is one of the staple meets on the schedule.'

Alyanak is stressing improvement from race to race, and constantly progressing throughout the course of the season, improving right up until the end of the year. To prepare for this event, the group is running a lot of shorter distances at faster rates to make up for the short training week.

'We want to be running our best at the Atlantic 10 Championships,' Alyanak said, as she challenges the team to be constantly improving throughout the weeks ahead.

Both the men's and women's events will starts at 4:30 Friday afternoon. At the conclusion of these events, the teams will start preparing for the Spiked Shoe Invitational at State College, Penn. Sept. 23, and the All-Ohio Championships in Deleware, Ohio, Sept. 29.