Members of Bishop Chatard's state-title winning 3,200-meter relay team had been looking for a challenge all season long.

The Trojans, who set a state record of 7 minutes, 41.56 seconds at the boys state finals, routinely took commanding leads in their meets this year by the second leg of the relay.

Last weekend, though, the Chatard quartet of incoming senior Andrew Poore and recently graduated seniors Seth Ball, Chris Dietrick and Todd Leone got the challenge they were looking for at the Nike Outdoor Nationals at North Carolina A&T University in Greensboro, N.C.

Chatard took fourth place out of 34 teams in the relay, running a blistering 7:40.74. The Warwick Valley (N.Y.) Track Club won the race in 7:36.96.

"We could have done a little bit better, but we couldn't be too disappointed about being fourth in the nation and running 7:40," Ball said.

The Trojans flew out to the meet with coach Dan Kinghorn on Thursday and raced Friday night. They went back to their hotel and slept for a few hours before getting up at 6 a.m. to run the 4-mile relay, which opened Saturday's competition.

Ball said the Trojans did little in the way of training for that event, which is not contested in Indiana, but still finished sixth out of 30 teams. It was their final race as a unit.

"We looked at it like we could have done better," he said. "Then we took a step back and looked at it in a more general perspective and realized it was a pretty good end to the season."

Pike 2006 graduate Brice Cleland also took the challenge of competing in something new at the Nike meet. He tried the 5,000-meter run, which was being contested at the meet for the first time, and finished 21st in 15:49.72.

Other North suburban-area representatives at the meet included the Chatard girls 400-meter relay team of Kourtney Crawford, Ebony Robinson, Natalie DiSalvo and Kate Muskat, which took 13th out of 28 teams in the preliminaries.

North Central graduate Bryant Kent took 23rd in the 400-meter run, and Hamilton Southeastern twin brothers Brian and Brandon Rabb both competed in the 200-meter dash but failed to advance beyond the preliminaries.

Noblesville's Blake Dircksen, who will be a sophomore, competed in the 1-mile run for '05-06 freshmen boys and placed 13th out of 31 entrants, finishing in 4:35.82.

Like the Chatard runners, Dircksen wasn't entirely satisfied with his performance but appreciated the opportunity.

"Right now, I'm trying to get a good experience and find out what it's like for my later years, when it counts more, and just to see where I am with everyone else," he said.

"I was a little disappointed with my performance. I ran one of my slowest times this season. It was a good experience, though. I hope I see those guys again later, and I hope I do better."