BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. – The 2023 Mountain East Conference Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championship returns to Oglebay Resort (Crispin Golf Course) in Wheeling, West Virginia, on Saturday morning.
 
The women’s 6,000-meter race gets the event underway at 9:30 a.m. The men’s 8,000-meter race will follow at 10:30 p.m. An awards ceremony, which will include the announcement of the MEC all-conference teams and major award winners, will begin at approximately 11:30 a.m.
 
Admission to the event is $10 per car. Fan are encouraged to purchase parking passes online in advance of the race (passes will be delivered electronically).
 
Both races will be streamed live on MountainEast.tv with Adam Zundell and Jesse Skiles providing coverage of the championship.
 
WOMEN’S PREVIEW
 
The University of Charleston, winners of three-consecutive Mountain East Conference Cross Country Championships, will be defending its 2022 crown on Saturday morning in Wheeling. The Golden Eagles took last year’s championship with six runners placing in the top eight spots of last year’s race. Four of those runners return for this year’s race, including Lily Dowdell, Mercy Jepleting, Julie LaFare and Madison Woolwine. Concord’s Emily Wallace and Fairmont State’s Carlina Jacquez also return for the 2023 race after turning in Top 10 finishes a season ago.
 
Following Charleston’s 2022 MEC Championship, the Golden Eagles went on to win their first-ever Atlantic Region Championship and placed 15^th at the NCAA National Championships last December in University Place, Wash.
 
UC dropped out of the latest edition of the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Poll, but has held a national ranking as high as No. 16 this season (Sept. 13, Sept. 20, Sept. 27). Charleston and Davis & Elkins rank first and second in the latest USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Rankings (Week 5; October 10, 2023).
 
Davis & Elkins has been led this season by freshman Lydia Falkenstein and Kaitlin Pappas. The Senators also return a trio of 2022 second team All-MEC selections to this year’s race, including sophomores Lauren Twyman, Savanna Hardman, and junior Ella Hesson.
 
In addition to the trio of second team All-MEC selections from Davis & Elkins, Wheeling’s Sydney Hambel, Concord’s Katy Walkup and West Virginia Wesleyan’s Leigha Hall will compete in Saturday’s championship after turning in Top 20 performances in 2022.
 
UC’s Lily Dowdell and Mercy Jepleting, Concord’s Emily Wallace and Fairmont State’s Carlina Jacquez are all three-time first team All-MEC selections and will be racing for fourth-year honors on Saturday.
 
MEN’S PREVIEW
 
The University of Charleston will also defend its 2022 crown in the men’s race after winning its fifth-straight conference crown a season ago. In the 2022 MEC championship race, Charleston placed three runners in the top five and six runners in the top 10.
 
Concord’s Issac Prather won his second-consecutive individual championship at the 2022 Cross Country Championship before graduating last spring. Just four runners that placed in the Top 10 at last year’s race return in 2023, including Concord’s Preston Prather, Fairmont State’s Darrell DeMoss, and the Charleston duo of Zane Chalker and Matty Bourse.
 
In addition, six second team All-MEC runners from 2022 return for Saturday’s race, including Frostburg State’s Justus LePrevost, Davis & Elkins’ Gabe Conder and Jackson Gibson, West Liberty’s Philip White, and Concord’s Logan Zuchelli.
 
After winning its fifth-straight MEC crown last November, Charleston went on to win the NCAA Atlantic Regional and placed eighth at the NCAA National Championships at Chambers Creek Regional Park in Washington.
 
In addition to Charleston’s victory at last year’s Atlantic Regional, Concord took third, Davis & Elkins placed fourth and West Liberty finished eighth in the team standings. Concord joined UC at the NCAA Division II National Championships last fall and placed 32^nd.
 
Despite losing its top three finishers (Joao Pereira, Thomas Termote, Alejandro Abellaneda) from the 2022 MEC Cross Country Championship, UC has been led this fall by freshman George Couttie, who is a three-time MEC Runner of the Week. Couttie has two first-place finishes and one second-place finish this fall for the Golden Eagles. His top 8k time of the year was 17:57 at the Virginia Tech Invitational back in September.
 
Charleston currently ranks 15^th in the USTFCCCA National Rankings. The Golden Eagles ranked as high as 14^th in the association’s preseason poll in late August. The Mountain East Conference is well represented in the USTFCCCA Atlantic Region Rankings, with Charleston at No. 1, Davis & Elkins at No. 4, Concord at No. 5, and Frostburg State at No. 6.