TRAFFORD, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The 2023 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Cross Country Championships are set to be hosted by Thiel College at the Greenville Airport in Greenville, Pa., on Saturday, Oct. 28.

The men's eight-kilometer (8K) race will begin at 11 a.m., followed by the women's six-kilometer (6K) race at noon. A brief awards ceremony will take place after the conclusion of the women's race. 

This year’s championship race will be the 66th for the men, while the women will be competing in the conference's 40th championship race.

This is the first time Thiel has served as the PAC Championship host since 2005. 

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 Division III regional championships are scheduled for Saturday, November 11. 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. The Division III Mid-Atlantic Championships will be hosted by Susquehanna University at Lock Haven University's West Branch Cross Country Course, while John Carroll University will host the Division III Great Lakes Championships at Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton, Ohio near Akron. 

The Division III Championships are scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 18 in Newville, Pa. Dickinson College will host the national championships at Big Spring High School. 

Women
Running in their first PAC Championships since returning to the conference after a 38-year run as a founding member of the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC), Allegheny College claimed its first-ever conference title in 2022.

Allegheny posted 41 points in the six-kilometer event (6K) and saw its five scoring runners finish in the top 14 of the 11-team, 107-runner field. It marked the Gators second consecutive conference championships, as Allegheny won the 2021 NCAC crown in their final year as a member of the league. 

Geneva College was the runner-up with 83 points, Saint Vincent was third (93), followed by Grove City College in fourth (104) and Franciscan University in fifth (144). Waynesburg University, winners of six straight PAC team titles from 2016-2021, finished sixth with 149 points. Washington & Jefferson College was seventh (151), Chatham University was eighth (172), Thiel College was ninth (270), Westminster College was 10th (283) and Bethany College was 11th (320).

Allegheny's Ben Mourer was selected the PAC Coach of the Year after guiding the Gators to their first conference title.

W&J senior Cassie Carr (Girard, Pa./Girard) is the top returning competitor from last year's meet, as she was the runner-up after registering a time of 22:37.38. Carr improved one spot following her third place finish in 2021. 

Also back is Saint Vincent sophomore Kristen Prince (Prince Frederick, Md./Calvert), who was recognized as the 2022 PAC Newcomer of the Year. She finished in third place with a time of 22:58.45 and was Saint Vincent's first female to earn Newcomer of the Year honors. 

Another First Team All-PAC runner who returns to compete this year is Allegheny junior Mazzie Standish (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny), as she was the top finisher on the Gators' championship team by placing fourth with a time of 23:02.37. 

Other runners who posted strong results through the 2023 regular season include Geneva sophomore Carmen Medvit (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) and a pair of first-year runners in Franciscan's Lauren Dosch (Grand Forks, N.D./Red River) and Grove City freshman Cayla Lawrence (Mendon, N.Y./Honeoye Falls-Lima). Medvit was the only runner to earn PAC Women's Runner of the Week twice this season, while Dosch earned the conference's Newcomer of the Week five times and Lawrence won it twice.

In the preseason poll conducted in August, Allegheny was chosen as the favorite to repeat as this year's women's team champion. 

Men
The 2022 PAC Men's Championships saw Franciscan record its third straight PAC team title, the league's longest run since Saint Vincent secured seven straight conference titles between 2010-2016. The Barons totaled 41 points in the eight-kilometer (8K) event and had their five scoring runners place in the top 16 finishers of the 10-team, 122-runner field. 

Allegheny, in its first PAC championship race since 1983, finished as the runner-up with 56 points. Geneva was third with 67 points and was followed by Saint Vincent in fourth with 80 points. Grove City was fifth (114), Washington & Jefferson was sixth (132), Waynesburg was seventh (211), Thiel was eighth (246), Chatham was ninth (272) and Westminster was 10th (293). Bethany had four runners compete as individuals.  

Franciscan head coach Dr. Dan Kuebler was voted the league's Coach of the Year for the second time (spring 2021) following the 2022 Championships.

Similar to the women's side, the second and third place runners from a season ago return to lead their teams. Saint Vincent senior Tim Patterson (Butler, Pa./Butler) was the 2022 runner-up, posting a time of 25:55.66, while Geneva junior Kevin Arseneaux (Yarmouth Port, Mass./Dennis-Yarmouth Regional) was also a First Team All-PAC runner last fall, placing third at the conference meet in 26:01.42.

Both runners also had strong 2023 campaigns leading up to the Championships, as Patterson earned PAC Runner of the Week four times and Arseneaux earned the weekly award twice this fall.

Among other runners to watch Saturday are a pair of first-year competitors. W&J freshman Dominic Flitcraft (Aliquipa, Pa./Hopewell) was a four-time PAC Newcomer of the Week through this fall, while Allegheny freshman Sam Hetrick (Meadville, Pa./Saegertown) was recognized as the top newcomer twice.

Allegheny was also voted as the favorite to win the men's team championship by the PAC coaches in the August preseason poll.