The Emory University men's and women's country teams return to action on Saturday (Oct. 31) when they compete at the 23^rd Annual University Athletic Association Cross Country Championships.  The competition will be held at Squire Valleevue and Valley Ridge Farm and hosted by Case Western Reserve University.  The women's 6K race begins at 11:00 and will be followed by the men's competition at noon.

The men's side enters this year's event ranked 12^th in the nation and are one of four conference squads to hold down spots among the nation's top 25 teams with New York University (#7), Carnegie Mellon (#19) and Brandeis (#23) the other programs to earn spots in the poll.  NYU enters this year as three-time defending champ, finishing the 2008 Championships with 35 points, outdistancing runner-up Carnegie Mellon's 52 points.  Emory registered a third-place finish, its best showing since the 2002 campaign and saw then-juniors Tommy Fyffe and Charlie Meade garner First Team All-UAA acclaim following their third and seventh-place finishes, respectively. 

The Eagles' women's team is ranked 32^nd nationally and will going up against five teams that are ranked among the top 30.  Washington University is slotted as the No. 7 squad on the national scene while defending champ Case Western is ranked 11^th.  Case edged Wash U. in last year's Championships (48-52) with Emory coming in third.  Sophomore Tess Gallegos earned First Team All-UAA honors after leading the team and coming in fifth overall with a time of 22:06.

2009 UAA Cross Country Championships