Saturday, the Ohio men's and women's cross country teams will find out just how good they are when the teams face Bowling Green and Marshall.

Ohio will play host to two Mid-American Conference rivals, an important start for both teams, Ohio Head Coach Elmore Banton said.

When the gun sounds at 11:15 a.m. for the men's race, a young, inexperienced team will get a glimpse of how well it may perform this season, while the women's team, which will race at 10:30 a.m., will find out who is the early top-dog in the MAC.

Either Ohio or Bowling Green has captured the women's MAC Championship each of the last 12 years. This year, Ohio was picked to win the MAC with Bowling Green and Kent State picked to finish second, making this weekend's meet a good test for the Ohio women.

"It's a pretty big meet for us," Banton said. "Our goal is to win the meet. If we can't beat Bowling Green then we can't win the MAC, but that doesn't mean this is do or die. Teams who win early can still lose later, but we still need to run well and have a good showing. It'll be a good indication of where we are right now."

Women's runner Mary Reynolds said the team hopes to beat Bowling Green despite not being at peak health.

"We need to make the best of it with the injuries we have," Reynolds said. "We're a pretty good team. We need to work together as a team and hopefully win the meet."

While the meet might provide an indication of where the team is right now, things could be different later in the season. Ohio runner Heather Halderman is not competing because she is recovering from a stress fracture. Halderman, Ohio's third runner last year, may return in October, but Banton said if she isn't ready she will redshirt this season. All-American Jackie Conrad isn't at 100 percent because she missed some training time, but Banton said she is running well.

Bowling Green's top runner, Christie Thompson, was eighth in the MAC last year, her teammate Libby Mitchell is also an outstanding runner. Marshall, on the other hand, is young and inexperienced with many freshman runners, so Banton doesn't know what to expect.

The men's race has no clear-cut favorite, Banton said. Marshall's Casey Batey, besides being one of the top runners on his team, is one of the elite runners in the MAC. Batey holds a share of the Ohio course record.

Bowling Green, like Ohio, is rebuilding. Dan Falute is Bowling Green's top runner.

"There are no great teams in this meet," Banton said. "There are three teams that are struggling right now. Marshall has the best runner, and probably is the favorite. This will be a very, very interesting meet."

Banton said he doesn't even know what to expect from his own team, let alone the competition.

"I have no idea how good we are," Banton said. "We are a very, very young, inexperienced, small team."

Banton said the team's success is going to depend on how well captain Chris Cave runs, and how well freshmen Mickey Martin, Brandon Grinwis and Justin Kempe perform in their first official meet. Juniors Adam Smith and Steve Krajenski also need to improve quickly.

"We'll probably look good at times, and sometimes we'll look bad. That's the way young, inexperienced teams are. This is our first meet of the season and I don't know what to expect."

Banton said having the home course will not be much of an advantage for the men's team because the freshmen on the team have not raced on the course before.

Adam Smith said the key to the race and season for the men's team is to pack the team members as close together as possible.

"The best thing to look for is how close we stick together," Smith said. "For the first few meets we need to work on cutting down the time difference between the number one guy and the number five guy.

"We're also looking for the young guys to get experience for the bigger meets," Smith said. "They need to get used to the pace and distance. It's very different from high school."