AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The Peach Belt Conference will host its 17th annual men’s and women’s cross country championships this Saturday, Oct. 20, at the Blanchard Woods park in Evans, Ga. Augusta State will host the event which brings together 10 women’s and six men’s teams. The women’s 5k race will begin at 9:00 am with the men’s 8k following at 9:45 and, judging by the regular season results, the 2007 championship may be one of the closest the conference has had.

On the women’s side the favorites begin with Columbus State. The 2005 and 2006 PBC Champions, the Cougars have two wins in the 2007 season, including a victory at the Jaguar Invitational which was run at Blanchard Woods in September. CSU, currently ranked fifth in the south region, also has one of the deepest teams in the PBC. Isabel Speer has been named the PBC Runner of the Week twice this season and has the fastest 5k run so far with an 18:32 at the Auburn Invitational. Ashley Arnold won the Cougar Classic in early September and finished third at the Jaguar while Tiara Brown ran a 19:19 at Auburn.

Host Augusta State is another contender for the women’s title. The Lady Jaguars have run out of the top five only once in six races this year, and that was at the 44-team Disney Classic where they finished 18th. Kristyn Holley has been named Runner of the Week twice in 2007 and won the Blue & White Dual meet in the season opener with a time of 19:32. ASU also has good depth with Jenafer Forward the team’s best finisher at Disney and All-Conference runner Annie Kim has two top-five finishes.

Other women’s teams to watch include Georgia College & State University who has three top-five’s in their last four events, including a season-best 2nd-place at the Tiger Twilight last weekend, and is ranked eighth in the region. The Lady Bobcats were third at the Jaguar Invitational and fourth at the Georgia Collegiate Championships. Lander has four top-five finishes in their six meets of 2007. Ogla Nunez-Lopez has been named the Runner of the Week and has three straight top-five finishes heading into the PBC including a season-best time of 19:29 at the Winthrop Invitational. North Georgia finished second of 15 teams at last week’s Erskine Invitational, their best result of the year. Emmy Lawalin was named the PBC Runner of the Week after that meet where she finished third in 20:51. USC Aiken won their first meet since 2001 at the USC Beaufort Invitational on Oct. 6. The Lady Pacers were also second at the USC Gamecock and fourth at the Citadel Invitational.

The men’s 8k race follows the women and defending PBC Champions Columbus State may be the team to beat. The Cougars have won both the Cougar Classic and the Jaguar Invitational in 2007 and were the top Division II team at the Auburn Invitational and the Brooks Twilight, which were laden with Division I schools. The Cougars have depth with three different runners crossing the line first for the team this season. John Neill won the Cougar Classic and ran a season-best time of 26:45 at the Auburn Invitational. Tim English was second at Auburn and was the first Cougar across the line at the Jaguar Invitational, where he finished fourth. Phillip Burks had his best finish at last weekend’s Brooks Twilight Invitational where he ran a 26:58, his second straight sub 27-minute performance heading into the PBC.

Clayton State won the 2005 PBC Championship and want to return to the top in 2007 after winning this year’s Georgia Collegiate Championships. The Lakers will look to freshman Walid Berkhedle to set the pace. Berkhedle became the first PBC runner ever to win the Runner of the Week award for four straight weeks and has turned in the top two 8k times in the conference this season including a league-best 25:32 at the Brooks Twilight Classic. He was also the top conference finisher at the Jaguar Invitational and second at the Georgia Collegiate Championships. Also for Clayton State, Anthony Aguilar finished 11th at the Jaguar and was sixth at the Georgia Collegiates.

Also contending for the men’s championship are Georgia College & State University who finished third of 13 teams at the Georgia Collegiate Championships, just 18 points behind Clayton State. The Bobcats Josh Hollar was named the PBC Runner of the Week last Monday after finishing second at the Tiger Twilight while Rich Dobson finished fourth at the Tiger and was GCSU’s top runner at the Georgia Collegiate’s with a season-best time of 27:46 to finish 13th.

UNC Pembroke won the season-opening Gamecock Invitational with Jesse McEntire crossing the line in first place and earning the first Runner of the Week award in 2007. UNCP has not finished out of the top five in any race they have run as a team this season, including a fourth-place at the recent Citadel Invitational. Giovanni Bilotta has been the first Brave to cross the tape three times this season, including a third-place finish at the Limestone Invitational.

North Georgia was second of 13 teams at last week’s Erskine Invitational, their highest finish of the year. The Saints had three runners in the top 10 including Alan Schmitz who finished fifth. Francis Marion finished second at the UNC Pembroke Invitational in September and turned in another top five at the Carl Broughton Invitational.

Championship and All-Conference awards will be presented immediately following Saturday’s championship meet. Admission to Blanchard Woods is free.