The Wabash College cross country team will travel to Rose-Hulman Saturday to compete in the 2015 NCAA Great Lakes Regional with high standards in mind.
 
Last year, Wabash placed all seven runners in the top-30 and scored 46 points, nearly 100 points ahead of the second-place finisher. The win was the second in a row for the Little Giants, part of a streak of five consecutive trips to the NCAA National Championship event.
 
The Great Lakes Regional will feature over 40 collegiate teams this weekend. Wabash will recognize a familiar newcomer to the 2015 regional competition. Wabash's North Coast Athletic Conference rival Allegheny College will be making the transition from the Mideast Regional, where the Gators finished ninth a season ago, to the Great Lakes Regional this season. The addition of Allegheny, ranked at the top of the US Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association regional poll) to the Regional adds a roadblock in Wabash's way of a sixth consecutive national championship berth. The Little Giants, ranked second in the regional poll, will not only compete against Allegheny, but also perennial contenders such as Calvin College, Ohio Northern University, and fellow NCAC foe Oberlin College.
 
Wabash is looking to build off of a solid performance in the NCAC meet from October 31. The Little Giants finished second behind Allegheny, who edged Wabash by a score of 42-55 to end the Little Giants' string of two straight conference championships.
 
"Our team performed well," Wabash Cross Country head coach Colin Young said when asked how he felt his team performed at the NCAC meet, "we had five all-conference runners and when we add Mason [McKinney] along with a solid performance from our other key runners, we will be even better."
 
The Little Giants will surely be look forward to the return of junior Mason McKinney, who has been an anchor for the Wabash Cross Country team all season. McKinney's return to the Wabash Redpack will be an essential component to success for Regionals this weekend. Overall, the Wabash College Cross Country team is in a very solid position leading up to the Great Lakes Regional.
 
Coach Young commented on how his team is preparing for the upcoming Regional meet.
 
"We are tapering the training now, doing less volume in training and more race specific intensity and sub-race distance intensity." The Little Giant head coach also touched on the mental focus training his squad is working on in order to run their best race these last two races, Nationals included.
 
The Little Giants are by no means unfamiliar with the regional stage, an asset that might just prove to be the key piece in their journey for another trip to nationals. Wabash will look to utilize their training, teamwork, and race strategy to succeed this weekend in Terre Haute to earn a sixth straight trip to Nationals.