Iowa City, IA (U-WIRE) -- Larry Wieczorek had a confession to make, and the Iowa men's cross-country coach did so with his own brand of self-depreciating humor.

"If I were a smarter coach, I would have scheduled an easier meet to start out with," he said. "It should be a pretty good test."

The Hawkeye coach, entering his 18th season at the helm, wasn't entirely exaggerating about tonight's Hawkeye Open at the Ashton Cross-Country Course.

The opener, slated to start at 6:45 p.m., will feature the Hawkeyes and several Midwest teams from various conferences. Illinois, Wayne State, Northern Iowa, Eastern Illinois, DePaul, and Loyola-Chicago will be competing in the 6K race, which is scheduled to begin after the women's meet.

"Anytime you are running against a Big Ten team, it will be a test," Wieczorek said. "Illinois is a solid team. Loyola is in our region, and it brings back a strong, experienced team.

"It will be a challenge, team-wise and individually."

When Iowa hits the starting line, the lineup will look significantly different from the 2004 campaign. Three members from last year's third-place Big Ten team - Brian Rae, Micah VanDenend, and Matt Esche - are still on the "comeback trail" and will not compete tonight, Wieczorek said.

"Those three guys ... hopefully, we will get them back in the next few weeks," he said.

Hawkeye regulars Eric MacTaggart, Jeff Kent, Dan Haut, and Adam Roche will be in the lineup. Because the meet is unlimited entry, Wieczorek plans on running eight or nine runners.

"I would like to see us have a good pack effort up front," he said. "It's a shorter distance, so we want to race more for position. We want to try to dominate with the pack and run from the front.

"After the four [scorers], we have to find the fifth man."

Wieczorek listed freshmen Blake Schlotzhauer and Alex Webster, sophomore Alan Jackson, and redshirt freshman Heath Moenck as possible candidates for the scoring slot.

The four runners have never competed in a college cross-country meet.

"One of the things we want to see is how close can a fifth man be to [MacTaggart, Kent, Haut, and Roche]," Wieczorek said.

"As we wait for the return of experienced veterans, who is going to step up and help make us a good team?"

(C) 2004 The Daily Iowan via U-WIRE