SUWANEE, Ga. -- The league's 22 cross country teams are preparing for the SCAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championship, which is being hosted by Centenary College and will be run at South Bossier Park in Bossier City, about a 25-minute drive from the Centenary campus. Official Championship Website

The races will be held on Saturday, November 2 with the women's 6K race scheduled to start at 9:00 am CT and the men's 8K to follow at 10:00 am CT. With the additions of Concordia University (Texas), McMurry University and University of the Ozarks to the SCAC, there will be 11 men's and 11 women's teams competing at this year's meet - creating the largest fields on both sides since the 2011 championships. 

The Colorado College men and women are the defending champions of the event, having swept the team titles at the 2023 championships which were contested at the Irma Lewis Seguin Outdoor Learning Center in Seguin, Texas. It was the fifth straight championship for the CC men and third straight for the women.

Will Shuflit is the leading returning Tiger, after earning a sixth-place finish at last year's meet (26:15.9) and the league's Newcomer of the Year honor - the eighth CC runner to earn the award and second consecutive following teammate Joe Bullock from 2022. Shuflit was one of seven Colorado College men who took All-SCAC honors last year, helping lead the team to a nine-point victory (24-33) over runner-up Trinity University. 2023 Men's Meet Results

Head coach Alex Nichols returns Shuflit plus two other all-conference harriers as the program seeks its sixth consecutive team title. Junior Dominic Schwein is back as is fellow junior Rabbit Barnes, who finished 11th and 13th, respectively, at last year's championship meet.

Other runners to watch on the men's side include senior Will Salony, graduate student Diego Flores and junior Nathaniel Trevino - all from Trinity University - as well as senior Jhancarlos Carpio of University of St. Thomas, who each posted all-SCAC finishes at last year's meet. Salony finished in third place last year after a runner-up finish as a sophomore. Flores has posted a pair of top five finishes at the conference meet in his career.

On the women's side at last year's championship meet, the Colorado College women had nine runners earn all-conference honors en route to the program's seventh title in program history, which tied for second on the league’s all-time list with Rhodes College. DePauw University holds the all-time SCAC record with nine team titles.

In what has become an annual battle of the Tigers, Colorado College finished with its second largest margin of victory in program history, outpointing Trinity 16-43. The 16 total points from the CC Tigers is the fourth fewest points in SCAC Championship history. 2023 Women's Meet Results

Senior Elliot Singer returns to lead the Tigers after finishing as runner-up at last year's meet with a time of 23:23.47. The two-time SCAC Runner of the Year, having won the conference meet as a freshman and a sophomore, Singer will attempt to become just the fourth women's runner in league history to earn three ROTY honors. 

Head coach Alex Nichols has six of his nine all-conference runners from a year ago back in pursuit of the program's fourth straight title. In addition to Singer, the Tigers will look for top finishes from juniors Alison Mueller-Hickler, Sky Theodosopolous and Liz White and sophomores Willow Lott and Charlie Flint when the league assembles the first Saturday in November to decide conference supremacy. Also expected to finish among the leaders is senior Isabel Olson, who just earned USTFCCCA Division III Athlete of the Week after winning the Augustana (Ill.) Invitational with a school-record time of 21.07.1, nearly 10 seconds faster than the runner up.

Other runners to expected to compete for all-conference honors include graduate students Madison Habeck and Ellie Catron, junior Allison Fortman and sophomore Cali Good - all of Trinity University. Each earned all-SCAC honors at last year's meet and Habeck is attempting to become the first runner in SCAC history to earn all-conference accolades five times in a career.

For more information on the 2024 SCAC Men's and Women's Cross Country Championship, click here for the official website.