Every day for more than four months now James Begley has taken a pen to a calendar in his house to check off another hard day of work tossing around iron and steel. He has only a few days remaining in this ritual before he will find out if his dedication pays off.

Begley is a senior on the Colorado track and field team. He competes in throwing events -- hammers, shot put and discus. He spent the past five years in the program, and like many of his teammates, Begley wondered if he would ever see the day the rest of the Big 12 conference would come to Boulder to compete for championships.

Begley is having perhaps his best season with marks good enough to be ranked among the top 11 in the conference in each of his events.

He puts down the pen and forgets about the calendar Friday when the 2008 Big 12 Outdoor meet begins where he trains each day at Potts Field.

"Especially with it coming up here to altitude on a distance runner's track, you want to win," Begley said. "And I think we have a team that can win. We're flying a little under the radar in the nation and in the Big 12. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised after the first couple days of scores about where the University of Colorado is and could be in contention to win the entire conference."

Begley isn't the only CU athlete taking the outdoor championships a little more personally than in previous years. It's probably natural to want to do well and show up with a good time or a lengthy throw when it's in your backyard and the best are there to challenge you.

The Big 12 Championships will feature four of the top 12 men's teams in the latest USA Track and Field rankings. Texas A&M is No. 1, Texas is No. 10, Baylor is No. 11 and CU is No. 12.

Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Texas and Oklahoma are all ranked among the top 25 on the women's side.

Talking about winning against that level of competition and actually doing it are two vastly different things. CU coach Mark Wetmore likes to hear that his athletes are passionate about doing well at home, but he's not going to make any bold predictions.

"There are athletes who seem to rise up at the Big 12 and there are athletes who seem to stumble at the Big 12," he said. "Since we've never had it here, I don't know what additional emotional responses there will be."

CU sprinter Jeremy Dodson has produced the fourth fastest time in the Big 12 this outdoor season in the 200 meters. He shares Begley's enthusiasm for wanting to do well as a team and he knows the key to that is a lot of solid individual performances.

Dodson must fair well against the likes of Marcus Pugh of Oklahoma and Julius Walker from Texas Tech in the 100 and Trey Harts of Baylor and Chris Dykes of Texas A&M, who have recorded two of the top 10 times in the 200 in nation this spring.

"It's our home track," Dodson said. "You have to defend it. I've shed so much blood and tears here. It has to pay off."

While a slew of members from the CU men's team have a realistic chance of producing wins in their events, Jenny Barringer figures to be one of few CU women with a chance to earn a victory. The women's team is in the midst of rebuilding in Boulder, but that doesn't mean Barringer and her teammates aren't especially excited for a championship meet on there home track.

"With the Big 12 here and racing at home on our track where we practice every day with our fans, it's definitely a big motivation," Barringer said. "That's like anyone. When anything comes home, it's your chance to show off. We get to do it once every 15 years or so."