GREENVILLE, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) is gearing up for this year’s Cross Country Championships, which will take place on Saturday, October 29 at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The women's six-kilometer (6K) race will begin at 11 a.m., followed by the men's eight-kilometer (8K) race at noon. 

A brief awards ceremony will take place after the conclusion of the men's race. 

This year’s championship race will be the 65th for the men, while the women will be competing in the conference's 39th championship race.

Saint Vincent last hosted the PAC Championships in 2016. 

The top seven finishers in both the men’s and women’s races receive All-PAC First Team recognition, while runners finishing eighth through 14th will earn All-PAC Second Team honors. Runners finishing 15th through 21st receive All-PAC Honorable Mention recognition. The league will also recognize its PAC Runners of the Year, PAC Newcomers of the Year and PAC Coaches of the Year along with the PAC Sportsmanship Teams.  

Wolf Creek Race Management (Mars, Pa.) will be on-site to provide event management and timing services for the two championship races. 

The 10 NCAA Division III regional championships are scheduled for Saturday, November 12. Bethany, Chatham, Geneva, Grove City, Saint Vincent, Thiel, W&J, Waynesburg and Westminster will compete in the Mid-Atlantic region, while Allegheny and Franciscan will compete in the Great Lakes region. Susquehanna will host the Division III Mid-Atlantic Championships at Lock Haven's West Branch Cross Country Course. Hope will host the Division III Great Lakes Championships at the West Ottawa Golf Club in Holland, Michigan.

The Division III Championships are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 19 in Lansing, Michigan. Olivet will host the national championships at Forest Akers East Golf Course.

Women
Waynesburg won its sixth-straight PAC team title in 2021. Chatham hosted last year's championships at its Eden Hall Campus. Chatham last hosted the PAC Championships in 2013. 

Waynesburg posted 54 points last year, edging runner-up Franciscan (55) by just one point. It was the first time in league history the women's team championship was decided by one point. Waynesburg saw three of its five scoring runners finish in the top 10 in the 10-team, 88-runner field. Waynesburg went on to finish 11th at last year's Division III Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships. 

Geneva was third with 66 points and was followed by Grove City in fourth (97), Chatham in fifth (164) and W&J in sixth (165). Saint Vincent was seventh (171), Bethany was eighth (205), Westminster was ninth (222) and Thiel was 10th (248). 

Franciscan's Alison Bryant (Arlington, Texas | Nolan Catholic) earned the event’s individual title and PAC Runner of the Year honors for the second-straight year after posting a winning time of 23 minutes, 33.07 seconds. 

Grove City's Lydia Bennett (Bethel, Maine | Gould Academy) was recognized as the PAC Newcomer of the Year. She finished in seventh place with a time of 25:08.55. 

Waynesburg's Chris Hardie was voted the league's Coach of the Year for the seventh time in the last eight years. 

W&J junior Cassie Carr (Girard, Pa. | Girard) posted a third-place finish at last year's PAC Championships with a time of 24:38.39. She secured All-Region honors after finishing 21st (24:20.70) at the Mid-Atlantic Championships. Carr went on to qualify for the Division III Championships in 2021, becoming W&J's first national qualifier since Kristen Galligan finished 12th at the Division III Championships in 2012. Carr finished 189th at the national championships (23:02.20).

In August, Allegheny was picked as the favorite to win this year's women's team championship. Allegheny announced its return to the PAC on August 23, 2021 after a 38-year run as a founding member of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Allegheny was a PAC member from 1958 through the spring of 1984 and reentered the PAC as its 11th full-time member on July 1, 2022. 

Allegheny won its 16th NCAC championship last fall, with head coach Ben Mourer voted the NCAC's Coach of the Year for the third time. After a six-place showing at the Division III Great Lakes Regional Championships, Allegheny was one of 22 programs to receive an at-large bid to the national championship. Allegheny posted a 30th-place finish in the 32-team national championship field. 

Allegheny senior Megan Aaron (Cranberry Township, Pa. | Seneca Valley) earned the NCAC Runner of the Year award last fall, winning the 89-runner championship event with a time of 22:43.70. She claimed All-Region honors with a seventh-place finish at the Great Lakes Championships (22:12.7) and was 49th at the national championships (21:57.3). 

Men
Franciscan registered its second-straight PAC men's team title in 2021. Franciscan totaled 16 points last year, the lowest total of a PAC team champion since Grove City (15) on October 30, 2004. Franciscan placed their five scoring runners in the top six finishers in the nine-team, 99-runner field. 

Saint Vincent finished as the runner-up with 46 points. Grove City was third with 103 points and was followed by W&J in fourth with 112 points. Waynesburg was fifth (134), Chatham was sixth (188) and Geneva was seventh (197). Thiel finished eighth (201) and Westminster was ninth (244). Bethany had two runners compete as individuals. 

Franciscan's Liam Galligan (Springfield, Pa. | Galligan Academy) earned the event’s individual title and PAC Runner of the Year honors for the second-straight year after posting a winning time of 26:26.77.  

Franciscan's Conal Delaney (Green Bay, Wis. | Homeschooled) was recognized as the PAC Newcomer of the Year. He finished in eighth place with a time of 28:14.82. 

Franciscan's Carlo Fabian was voted the league's Coach of the Year. 

In August, Saint Vincent was selected as the favorite to win this year's men's team championship. 

Franciscan seniors Miguel Daez (Sterling, Va. | Holy Family Homeschool) and George Kaftan (Sandusky, Ohio | St. Mary's Central Catholic), along with Saint Vincent junior Tim Patterson (Butler, Pa. | Butler), highlighted this year's runners to watch list.

Daez was the runner-up at last year's conference championships with a time of 27:07.70. He earned All-Region honors with a 33rd-place finish (25:47.30) at the Division III Great Lakes Championships.

Kaftan was fourth (27:32.22) at the PAC Championships last season. He finished 43rd (25:55.70) at the Division III Great Lakes Championships. 

Patterson was fifth (27:37.01) at the conference championships last fall. He earned All-Region honors at the Division III Mid-Atlantic Championships with a 27th-place finish (27:34.30). It was the highest regional finish for a Saint Vincent runner since Brandon Moretton ran to a 24th-place finish at the 2015 Mideast Championships.