To head coach Jon Bell, there are only two races that really matter: the Atlantic 10 Championships and the NCAA Regionals.

All other cross country meets, including the Notre Dame Catholic Championships tomorrow, take a back seat to those two pivotal races.

That is why the team is approaching this race merely as an opportunity to improve on its first race that took place on Aug. 30 at Washington University in St. Louis.

“We just want to see where we’re at,” Bell said. “Everything we’re doing is geared toward those postseason races.”

Bell said, idealistically, the women’s team has the potential to compete for second place, and, realistically, it can secure third place. Last year, the women finished fourth.

Notre Dame, who has bred 13 women champions and 13 men champions since 1984, won the team titles on both sides last year.

The Saint Louis University team, though, has not done anything special to prepare for the meet, Bell said.

“We’ve really just stuck to our training and haven’t changed the way we practiced,” he said. “It’s just another meet.”

Out of the three women that had times less than 19 minutes last year, senior Mary Moloney is the only one to return this year. The Bills have a new weapon in freshman Hilary Orf, who finished ninth overall in the Wash. U. meet and first on the SLU team.

On the men’s side, SLU’s top two runners at this meet last year, Steve Vargas and Mat Stuber, have both moved on due to graduation. Sophomore Brian Holdmeyer, who finished ninth out of 185 competitors at Wash. U. will pace the men’s team in South Bend.

“This meet is a great opportunity to run against some great teams,” Bell said. “Just like most sports, you see a lot of improvement from the first race to the second, and I expect that’s what going to happen for both teams this weekend.”