The Cyclone men’s and women’s cross country teams start chasing down competitors today in their season openers at the Iowa State cross country course.

Dick Lee, coach for the women’s team, said it is going to be nice to run the first meet at home because the teams are typically on the road for their opener.

“It’s hard going into the first meet because some people compete better than they train, and some people train better than the compete,” he said.

The meets, for both the men and women, are unscored, which Lee said was advantageous because the women do not have the added pressure.

But he said they are “looking forward to seeing where [they’re] at after just a couple of weeks of training.”

Jana Peterson, whose 1996 season was injury-plagued and who was ultimately red-shirted, said the meet will be an experience to build upon.

“I think this will be a good meet for us to really find out where we’re at,” she said.

Peterson said because of the different levels of competitors, the race will help the team figure out what they have to do to be successful in future meets.

Lee said he hopes this meet is a “competitive experience” for the team, but the top goal remains the big meets at the end of the season.

Stacey Armstrong, one of the team’s returning top runners said, “It’s going to be interesting to see what kind of shape the team is in.”

She said it is more important that the team is in the best of shape for the championship meets in late October; however, she said they want to go out and run well today.

“I am looking forward to just seeing us compete — to see how good we are,” said Kevin Bourke, the men’s coach.

He too said the team’s ultimate goal is to do well at the end of the season.

“I think that in the workout we’ve had up to this point, everybody’s been really positive,” Bourke said. “It feels as though we can do well as a team not only in the conference, but in the NCAA meet.”

Jeremy Meyer, returning Cyclone runner, said the team should do fine.

“I think we’re ready to get started and I think everyone is ready to start racing again,” he said.

Meyer described the meet, which is new to the schedule this season, as a “tune-up meet.” He said the unscored meet is a good chance for the runners to get a feel for upcoming competitions.

In addition, he said starting off at home is great because the team can get a good run in without traveling.

“It’s always good to start off at home,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll have fan support.”

The ISU course is the site for the regional competition this season. Meyer said it is beneficial that they get to run on the regional course even if the regional race is longer.

Samuel Magu, a newcomer who recently arrived from Loitikitok, Kenya, said he is not nervous for this first meet.

He said he feels ready but still needs a little time to adapt to Ames and “to know how things work.” Magu said “the program is one of the best” and he imagines in four weeks that he will be “in very good shape.”

“The team is good,” he said. “We have a good spirit and we work as a team.”

The Cyclone women run their 3.1-mile race today at the cross country course at 4 p.m. The men start their 5-mile journey at 4:30 p.m.

Other teams running include Wisconsin, Texas A&M, Loyola, Grinnell College, University of South Dakota and Northwest Missouri State.