For the first time in Brendan Camplin’s five years in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes will not compete in the Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota.

Instead, Iowa men’s cross-country coach Larry Wieczorek decided to compete in the more difficult Wisconsin Inter Regional in Madison, Wis., at 11 a.m. on Oct. 3.

“Coach Wieczorek wanted a change of pace this year,” Camplin said. “[The Wisconsin Inter Regional] will be a diverse meet as far as regions of the country go.”

Iowa will face non-Midwestern schools such as Syracuse, Georgetown, Brigham Young, and Arkansas. Many of the schools participating have ranked programs or programs garnering votes.

No team will pose as big of an obstacle to Wieczorek’s team than the home squad, the No. 4-ranked Badgers. Leading head coach Mick Byrne’s team will be All-American runner Landon Peacok, who placed 21st at the NCAA championships last season.

The Badgers boast two other All-Americans in Jack Bolas and Craig Miller, who earned their honors in distance track.

For Wieczorek, it will be a shining victory if the Black and Gold can hang in the race and earn a victory over the competition.

“Our first objective would be if we could beat a ranked team,” he said. “Right now, though, it’s just us trying to get out and running. Our goal is to have five guys running times under 25 minutes.”

One factor that could be to the underdog Hawkeyes’ benefit is the relative similarity between the Hawks’ Ashton Cross-Country Course and the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course up north.

“It’s a rolling cross-country course,” Wieczorek said. “It’s our first time seeing the course, but from what I understand, it’s very close to ours as far as terrain goes.”

Iowa, unranked and without votes, will not enter the meet with the national respect enjoyed by the majority of the competing schools.

The way cocaptain Tommy Tate sees it, any team Iowa beats will do a lot to push the young team more toward the forefront of the NCAA cross-country scene.

“If we beat a team that’s already ranked, it gets us an at-large point,” he said. “It would push us into nationals. If that team then goes on to score points later in the season, then we get points, too, because we beat it.

“Then, if we don’t make the top two or so teams in our region, we can still get to nationals with an at-large bid.”

By choosing to skip the Griak, Iowa will get another week to rest and prepare for the Wisconsin meet. With the extra time, the similar running conditions, and the large field, Camplin likes the Hawkeyes’ chance of surprising some higher-ranked foes.

“It’s such a high-quality event, any team we beat will be a great victory for us,” Camplin said. “It’s to our advantage to try to beat teams from different regions.”