The 22nd-ranked Middlebury men's cross country team heads south to Connecticut College for the NESCAC Championship. The program searches for its second title with the 8-kilometer (8K) race beginning at 11:00 a.m., followed by the women's race at 12:00 p.m.

ABOUT MIDDLEBURY

• The Panthers opened the season by claiming team titles at the Silloway Maple Syrup Challenge and while hosting their Aldrich Invitational.
• Middlebury earned the runner-up spot at the Hoffmann Invitational before securing its third-consecutive finish of 10th place or better at Lehigh's Paul Short Run.
• The program enters the weekend following a solid seventh-place finish at the Connecticut College Invitational that featured multiple teams ranked inside the top-10 spots nationally.

PANTHERS TO WATCH

• Benjamin Hughes has had a fantastic campaign this fall, being the first runner to cross the finish line in every race. Hughes opened the season with consecutive individual titles at the Silloway Maple Syrup Challenge and Aldrich Invitational before earning ninth at the highly-competitive Paul Short Run. The Panther, who is coming off his season-best time 8K time of the season at the Connecticut College Invitational (24:29.1), claimed All-NESCAC First Team honors after claiming fifth at last year's championship.
• Finishing in the top 25 in four out of five races is Ethan Sholk. The rookie started the fall with three consecutive top-five places and looks to build off a career-best time of 24:58.9 set at Connecticut College.
• Other top performers in the lineup have been Owen Johnson and Zach Utz. Johnson had a personal record 24:53.3 two weekends ago, while Utz shaved over 20 seconds off his previous 8K mark with a 25:23.4 in the same race.
• Cameron Miles (25:15.4), Harry Griff (26:07.7) and Felix Rogovin (26:18.5) look to improve on their season-best marks set at the national meet hosted by the Camels.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS

• Williams earned its fifth-consecutive and conference-leading 22nd crown last season. The Ephs are the only program to secure double-digit NESCAC Championship titles.
• Harrison Dow of Amherst (fourth), Hughes (fifth), Williams' Ryan Hardiman (ninth) and Luke Brennan of Tufts (10th) are the returning top-10 finishers from last fall's conference championship race.
• The NESCAC had six teams claim 15th place or higher at the Connecticut College Invitational. Tufts (second) and Williams (fifth) secured a spot in the top five, followed by Middlebury (seventh), Amherst (eighth), Colby (11th) and Bates (14th).
• Four other conference foes are also ranked in the national poll. Tufts is ranked fourth, followed by #7 Williams, #15 Amherst and #20 Wesleyan.

Information about the championship can be found on the central landing page on the NESCAC website.