Oct. 31, 2008

FAIRFAX, Va. - George Mason University will host the CAA Cross Country Championship meet Saturday morning. The meet will be run at Bull Run Regional Park in Centreville, Va., with a start time of 10 a.m. for the women's 6k race and the men's 8k race to follow at 11 a.m.

On the men's side, the Tribe of William and Mary enter the meet ranked 21st in the nation in the USTFCCCA poll and second in the Southeast Regional rankings. William and Mary enters the meet as the defending champions, eight years running. George Mason was the runner-up last year.

In the women's rankings, William and Mary sits in seventh and James Madison comes in at 11th in the Southeast Regional poll. The Tribe women also enter the meet as the defending champion, five years running. James Madison has been the runner-up four out of the past five seasons.

"We are very excited to be hosting the CAA Championships this year. Our runners know the course very well and I am ready for our team to get into the championship season." said Head Coach Andrew Gerard in preparation for this weekend.

The following seven runners will lace up for Mason on the women's side: Samantha Fickel, Katherine Griffith, Katie Harris, Karlyn Lockie, Kailyn Lockie, Monique McKenzie and Elizabeth Smith. Twelve of the following 13 runners will compete on the men's side for Mason: Matt Bailey, James Burns, Daniel Callan, Everett Hackett, Sam Horn, Bobby Krause, Anthony LaMastro, Ryan Murphy, Michael Pachella, Chris Palmer, James Snyder and Scott Tekesky.

An awards ceremony will follow the races at noon. The top-12 finishers will be part of the All-CAA team and the first-place finisher in each race will be named CAA Runner of the Year.