The Emory University men's and women's cross country teams head into the homestretch of the season on Saturday (Nov. 16) when they compete at the NCAA South/Southeast Region Championships.  This year's competitions will be held at the Lee Hall Mansion Course in Newport News, Va.  The women's 6K race will begin at 11:00 am (EST) while the men's 8K event is slated for a noon start.  Serving as the host of the Region Championships is Christopher Newport.

There are eight regional championships being conducted around the country with the top two men's and women's teams from each regional earning automatic bids to the NCAA National Championships on Saturday, Nov. 23, in Hanover,  Indiana.  In addition, there will be 16 at-large teams selected for both the men's and women's championships.  Approximately 28 teams and 248 runners will be hitting the course in the men's event while 230 women from 31 programs will take part in this year's Championships.

The Emory women's team has enjoyed considerable success over the years at the NCAA Regionals, logging first-place efforts in 17 of the past 22 seasons.  In 2012, the Eagles hosted the Regional and finished runner-up in the 26-team field with 132 points, second to Trinity's 32 pts.    The Eagles saw all five of their scorers earn all-region kudos by virtue of finishing among the top 35, led by Marissa Gogniat who paced the team while placing 18^th overall out of 184 entries.    Heading into this weekend's action, Emory is ranked second in the region behind Trinity. 

The Emory's men's team posted a fifth-place finish out of 23 squads at last year's Championships.    Lynchburg College took home first place while Trinity was second.   Current members of the team, Hank Ashforth, Eddie Mulder and Patrick Crews were all-region performers.   The Eagles are ranked No. 4 in the region heading into this weekend behind No. 1 Centre, No. 2 Bridgewater and No. 3 Christopher Newport.