SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Susquehanna University men's and women's cross country teams will compete in Saturday's NCAA Division III Mideast Regional championships at Allegheny College. The men's 8,000-meter competition begins at 11 a.m. and the women's 6,000-meter race begins at noon.

The top two men's teams and top four women's teams will advance to the NCAA championships on November 20 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Individually, the top eight men and top five women who are not members of a qualifying team will also earn an NCAA bid.

The Crusader men will attempt to turn in their strongest showing at the championships after finishing fifth in the Middle Atlantic Conference meet at Belmont Plateau on October 30. Ranked 13th in the region, the squad returns five runners from the squad that placed ninth out of 34 teams at the 2003 regional championships.

“Their workouts in the past two weeks and activities in preparation for this meet have shown that they are ready,” head coach Marty Owens said. “If they perform to their abilities, a top 10 finish is in the works.”

Freshman Kyle Snyder (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin East H.S.) will lead the way after finishing 21st in 27:27 at the MAC championships. Owens said he expects Snyder, who finished 53rd in 27:57 at the 2003 regional championships, to contend for a spot in the NCAA championships.

Junior Jadrien Deibler (Snydertown, PA/Shikellamy) will attempt to improve on a strong finish at last year's regional championships, where he placed 36th in a time of 27:27. In this year's MAC championships, he finished 36th in a time of 28:20.

Freshmen Jentre Deibler (Snydertown, PA/Shikellamy) , brother of Jadrien, and Joe Ramsey (Sunbury, PA/Shikellamy) will look to continue successful first seasons in which they finished 29th and 30th, respectively, at the conference championships in a time of 27:59.

Senior Jeremy Apgar (Wantage, NJ/High Point Regional), junior Chris Wiegand (Coatesville, PA/Downingtown H.S.) and sophomores Doug Haines (Flourtown, PA/Springfield) and Ken Dammers (Sussex, NJ/Vernon Township) will also compete for the Crusader men on Saturday.

The women's team, which is ranked 16th in the region, will look to build on a 16th-place finish at the 2003 regional championships.

The Crusaders, who finished sixth of 15 schools at this year's MAC championships, will field a young team at the regional meet as four of the top five members of the squad are freshmen and just one has previously competed in the event.

“This team is setting the stage for even better things to come in the future,” Owens said.

The lone returning runner from last year's regionals, freshman Heather Matta (Holyoke, MA/Westfield H.S.) finished 69th in 25:10 to earn a spot on the All-Freshman second team.

For the first time in her career, senior Jess Pettengill (Watsontown, Pa/Warrior Run) will compete at regionals after missing the previous three due to injuries. She placed 59th in 27:05 at the MAC championships.

Erica Zornig (South Windsor, CT/South Windsor ) finished 25th in 25:17 at the conference championships.

Other strong first-year runners are freshmen Katie Pulizzano (Allentown, PA/William Allen) , who finished 37th in 25:52 at the MAC championships, and Jessica Farawell (Verona, NJ/Verona) , who placed 42nd in a time of 26:06.

Rounding out the lineup for the Crusaders will be sophomore Wendy McCardle (Hackettstown, NJ/Mount Olive) and freshmen Sara Jagielski (Grand Isle, VT/Rice Memorial) and Amanda Janicki (Pittsford, NY/Our Lady of Mercy) .