Championship Website
 
MADISON, N.J. – Team and individual titles will be on the line as the Landmark Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships are hosted by Drew University for the first time this Saturday.
 
The meet will take place at Oak Ridge Park in Clark, N.J. The men's 8,000-meter championship will kick off at 11 a.m. before the women's 6,000-meter championship will begin at noon.
 
Ten schools will compete for both the men's and women's team titles, and each team may enter an unlimited number of competitors. Last year's Landmark Conference Championship, hosted by Elizabethtown College at Union Canal Tunnel Park in Lebanon, Pa., featured a combined 223 runners.
 
Drew also hosted a meet at Oak Ridge Park back on Sept. 5 with the Ranger Invitational, which featured five women's teams and four men's teams, including Landmark Conference members Lycoming College and the University of Scranton.
 
Saturday's event will mark the first Landmark Conference Cross Country Championship to be held in the state of New Jersey. Since the conference's inaugural season in 2007, the meet has been held in Pennsylvania (nine times), Maryland (five times), Washington, DC (twice), and New York (once).
 
Moravian University enters the meet as the four-time defending conference champion in the men's race and was favored to defend its title in the Landmark Conference Pre-Meet Coaches Poll, garnering just one more point than Elizabethtown College. The two schools have won a conference-leading six Landmark Conference men's cross country titles each while Susquehanna University has captured the men's crown five times.
 
On the women's side, Catholic University seeks its third consecutive conference title. But Moravian was also picked first in the women's competition, followed by Scranton and Catholic.
 
Both of last year's individual champions have graduated. Moravian's Bryan Kerchner is the top returning men's finisher after placing fourth last season while Goucher's Terrica Thornton-Fillyaw is the top returning finisher in the women's race after taking runner-up honors a year ago.
 
The top-19 finishers in each race receive All-Landmark Conference recognition. The top-seven are named first-team all-conference, the eighth through 14th-place finishers garner second-team accolades, and the 15th through 19th-place runners gain honorable mention. The race winners are named the Landmark Conference Most Outstanding Performers of the Year while the top finisher in each race who is participating in their first year of intercollegiate competition capture Rookie of the Year honors.
 
Drew's men's team is looking to improve upon its seventh-place finish from last season's meet while the Ranger women will look to better their sixth-place showing from a year ago.
 
The Ranger men are led by junior Tommy Edwards, who has finished as the team's No. 1 runner in all six of his races this season. Sophomore Matt Ellis has joined Edwards near the front of the pack, finishing as the team's No. 2 runner five times. Edwards, who won the Battle of Madison Tri-Meet last week, is Drew's top returning finisher from last year's Landmark Conference Championships after placing 45th while Ellis came in 55th. Senior Dylan Crain and sophomore Eliot Vishnevsky also provide championship experience after competing in last year's meet as well.
 
Senior Kate Rice will look to continue her outstanding season for the women's squad and has turned in a number of outstanding performances this year. Drew's No. 1 runner in each of her five races, she placed second at the NJIT Invitational and won the Battle of Madison Tri-Meet. Last season, she recorded the fastest times in team history for both 6,000 meters (22:19) and 5,000 meters (18:25).
 
Junior Skyler McGuire has also been a fixture at the front of the pack for Drew this season as the second Ranger to cross the finish line in six of her seven races, including the last four.
 
Five Rangers return after competing in last year's conference meet, including senior Annelise Wade, who was Drew's top finisher in the team's first two meets of the season this year. Additionally, junior Sarah Hattan returns after finishing as Drew's No. 1 runner at last year's championship, when she placed 23rd.
 
Sophomore April Kusnier is also back after placing 40th at last year's meet while classmates Isabella Fortunato and Bella Polizzi return with championship experience as well.