HADLEY, Mass. – Colby College will host the 2004 NESCAC Cross Country Championships on Saturday, October 30 at the Middlebury Cross Country Course in Waterville, Maine. The Tufts men and Middlebury women prepare to defend their titles with the men’s race beginning at 1:00 p.m. and the women’s race following at 2:00 p.m. The race figures to be highly competitive as three men’s programs and six women’s programs were ranked in the top 25 in the October 19 release of the NCAA Division III Cross Country Rankings. An awards ceremony is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.

Six of last year’s top seven women finishers return to compete in the 2004 Championship including the 2003 NESCAC Medalist and Rookie of the Year Shauneen Garrahan of Amherst. Joined by senior Carter Hamill, the duo will pace the third-ranked Jeffs who are seeking their first NESCAC Women’s Cross Country title. Defending NCAA National Champion Middlebury has captured the team title five of the past six events. The fifth-ranked Panthers are led by senior Jessica Manzer who placed 4th at last year’s NESCACs and who was the top Division III finisher this year at the all-Division New England race held in Boston in early October. Williams College, currently the top ranked program in the country, is headed by senior Jenn Campbell and junior Caroline Cretti who earned Medalist and Rookie of the Year honors in 2002. The two finished sixth and seventh at last year’s championship and figure to be at the top of the pack this year. Wesleyan senior Courtney Quirin, who finished second at the 2003 event by 1.4 seconds, will compete for the individual title as well.

In the men’s race, the Tufts men, currently ranked fifth in the October 19th NCAA poll, return their top seven runners for the second consecutive season in hopes of defending their NESCAC crown. The Jumbos will be led by 2003 Rookie of the Year Joshua Kennedy and senior Nathan Brigham. Last year’s Medalist Neal Holschulte of Williams will attempt to defend his individual crown. The 2002 Rookie of the Year will pace an Eph squad ranked 16th nationally who had won seven NESCAC titles from 1994-2000. Bates seniors Michael Downing and Joel Anderson will likely be at the front of a Bobcat pack which is ranked 9th nationally.

The Campbell Cross Country Trails at Colby contain two very challenging courses of grass, dirt and wood-chipped paths with long rolling hills and very few flat areas. The women’s 5K course has a steady uphill climb about a mile and a half into the race that varies from gradual to very steep which will challenge every runner in the field. The men’s 8K course begins with two loops of the Colby athletic fields before winding along several wood-chipped paths including a long gradual downhill descent to the bottom of Runnels Hill and finishing with a combination of rolling grass and wood-chipped trails back to the athletic fields.