In November, the best collegiate cross country runners and coaches will be gathered in Ames, and the Iowa State Cross Country Course will be the main attraction. The course, which covers nearly 70 acres, will be host to the NCAA championships on Nov. 20. It will be the third time Iowa State has hosted the event in the last 12 years with the last time in 1995. The men will run 10,000 meters while the women will go 5,000 meters. With the days counting down, event manager Dave Crum feels the course is nearly ready for competition. “We’re very excited. We’re going to have the nation’s best here in Ames. There’s not a lot of work left to do, just some aesthetic things left to do. We need to fix some worn spots in the grass and replace some fence posts,” Crum said. The course, located just west of the Towers Residence Halls, is the only one of its kind. No other college in the nation offers a course solely used for cross country as most schools run meets on golf courses. The course was completed and dedicated in 1995, a year after the Cyclone men won the national title. The success of the cross country teams was a driving force behind the construction, according to Media Relations Director Tom Kroeschell. The men’s cross country won national titles in 1989 and 1994 while the women’s team have won four national crowns. “When they built this course, there was the full intention of all parties involved, from President Jischke to Athletic Director Gene Smith, for the design to not only be neat in nature but also ideal to host a national meet. With our success in cross country, it was appropriate,” said Kroeschell. The course is open to public use and is a popular attraction as it is heavily used for recreational purposes. “One thing to remember is that the course isn’t just for Iowa State and cross country. Any day you drive by there, you see people running on the course and it was specifically designed, not only for training and competition, but also recreation,” Kroeschell said. Kroeschell pointed out that the 1995 meet went off without problems and the course was a big hit with the competitors. “When we hosted in 1995, there was no major problems. I think that you could talk to any of the coaches or runners that was there and they would sing the praises of how wonderful it is to run on. There’s a unique undertaking to it,” Kroeschell said. ISU men’s cross country coach Kevin Bourke feels that the success of the 1995 meet is a big reason the meet is back in Ames only five years later. “The course is the only one in the country designed to meet NCAA criteria. The NCAA knew that the course was outstanding and wanted us to host the meet again,” Bourke said. Kroeschell agrees. “When you bid to host an NCAA meet and you’ve already done it, they’ll look back to how well you did last time. There was rave reviews from the nation’s top coaches, and the fact that it went so well before made it vastly easier to get this time,” he said. Crum is expecting a good-sized crowd and feels that the timing of the event, over Thanksgiving break, has its advantages but also its drawbacks. “We’re going to have a large crowd, over 2,000 people. We’re looking into closing streets for parking. We’re having it when the university is on Thanksgiving break, so traffic won’t be that bad, but its too bad because a lot of the students won’t be around to attend,” Crum said. Although the meet went smoothly in 1995, Kroeschell is quick to add that a lot of hard work goes into preparation. “The cross country meet is one of the more challenging events to put on. It takes an immense amount of volunteers. Plus it’s held in November in central Iowa so you’re also at the mercy of the weather,” Kroeschell said.