By Steve Holt, Opinion Editor

The men’s and women’s cross country team will compete Saturday at the NCAA Division II South Central region championships in Warrensburg, Mo., with the men heavily favored to win their third straight title.

Both teams will be running to qualify for the NCAA Division II national championship meet Nov. 23 in Ashland, Ohio. The men’s team is the top ranked team in the region, while the wo-men are ranked third.

Missouri Southern State is ranked second in the region, and will likely be ACU’s closest competition.

But head coach Jon Murray said he isn’t too worried about whether the men’s team will win, but honing some aspects before nationals.

“The guys are still working on a few things-maybe a little team running this weekend,” Murray said. “The competition shouldn’t be that hard. We’ve already beaten the team that won the other conference.”

Defending region champion John Kemboi said his personal goal for Saturday’s race is to better his time from last year’s meet and also run one of his faster times of the season. He said teamwork is key to doing well at region and at nationals.

“Basically we need to go in as a team, in preparation for nationals,” Kemboi said.

The ACU women have much more on the line, Murray said.

“The ladies are going for broke,” Murray said. “They have to be aggressive, get after it, and basically have to run their best race of the year to make it to nationals.”

The women’s team will need to place either first or second in the six-kilometer race, and get past top teams Pittsburgh State and Central Missouri State to make it to nationals. The ACU women have not participated in the national meet since 1997, when they finished 16th. Leading the women this weekend will be senior Angie Waters, junior Justine Nahimana and sophomore Cassie Chaffin, who Murray said will need to place in the top three to advance to nationals.

“We’re right in there with them,” Murray said.