ELKINS, W.Va. – The stage is set for the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Championships on Saturday in the rolling hills of West Virginia.
 
The first conference championship event of the 2015-16 academic year promises to be a good one on the campus of Davis & Elkins College, which serves as host.
 
The men's race will get started at 10:30 a.m. EST, the women’s race will follow at 11:30 a.m. EST and the awards ceremony will wrap things up.
 
The awards ceremony will feature the announcement of G-MAC runners of the year, coaches of the year and the all-conference team, for the fall.
 
The men’s field will feature seven teams while the women have all eight teams entered: Alderson Broaddus, Cedarville, D&E, Kentucky Wesleyan, Ohio Valley, Salem International, Trevecca Nazarene and Ursuline.
 
The G-MAC has not known a conference champion other than Cedarville on the men’s or women’s side in the league’s short three-year history.
 
The Yellow Jackets will look to extend their dominance into 2015 while all teams continue to set their sights on the NCAA Midwest Regional in Evansville in hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Championships.
 
The 2014 G-MAC Runners of the Year were both from Trevecca Nazarene, Caroline Hampton and Logan Rodgers after they won both respective races in Owensboro, Ky.
 
Davis & Elkins traditionally hosts the Forest Festival Invitational on its campus and this year’s edition featured G-MAC winners for both the men’s and women’s races.
 
Current G-MAC Athlete of the Week Andrew Shaffer of Ohio Valley finished the 8K course in 28:35.50 for first while Alderson Broaddus freshman and two-time G-MAC Athlete of the Week Taylor Treadway completed the women’s 6K distance in 24:39.08.
 
Shaffer also won the 2014 D&E Forest Festival Invitational in 30:54.00.
 
Treadway and D&E freshman Danielle Haynes have highlighted a strong class of league newcomers along with Cedarville rookie Kayla Casaletto and Ursuline's Ashley Pucella. Treadway and Haynes finished 1 and 2 in the Forest Festival Invitational.
 
Cedarville sophomore Carsyn Koch has also earned league weekly honors twice along with TNU’s Hampton, who has come close in two races to breaking the G-MAC 5K record.
 
Cedarville’s Benjamin Tuttle and Daniel Michalski have carried the Yellow Jackets’ deep squad again this fall. Both have earned weekly conference honors and Cedarvile has floated in and out of the USTFCCCA Midwest Region rankings this season.
 
The G-MAC will interview the winners of both races along with the coaches of the year following the awards ceremony on Saturday. Live scoring results will be posted on G-MACsports.com when available.
 
View G-MAC Championship pages (Men's | Women's)