SELINSGROVE, PA – The Susquehanna University men’s and women’s cross country teams are gearing up for Saturday’s Middle Atlantic Conference Championships at DeSales University. The men’s race begins at 11 a.m. while the women’s competition starts at noon.

The Susquehanna men, who finished fifth at last year’s MAC championships for the second straight year, will be led by senior Ryan Gleason (Johnstown, PA/Westmont Hilltop H.S.). A two-time NCAA qualifier, Gleason has finished in the top 10 at the MAC championships in each of the previous three years, including a fourth-place result in 2002, and will seek to become Susquehanna’s first individual champion since Greg Pealer won consecutive titles in 1983 and 1984.

For the second straight year, Gleason enters the MAC championships with the fastest 8,000-meter time in the conference this season. He ran a career-best 24:47 at the Gulden Invitational at Bucknell on October 3 to finish first in a field that featured many Division I and Division II athletes.

In just four meets this fall, Gleason has two first-places finishes (at Bucknell and at Westfield State) and a second-place finish at the prestigious Penn State Spiked Shoe Invitational in the season opener on September 13.

Sophomore Jadrien Deibler (Snydertown, PA/Shikellamy H.S.) will also be a factor for the Crusaders as he enters the championships with the seventh-fastest time in the conference this season of 26:13 also set at Bucknell on October 3. He finished 57th at the MAC championships as a freshman.

Freshman Kyle Snyder (Harrisburg, PA/Central Dauphin East H.S.), sophomore Shane Cartwright (Cranston, RI/Cranston East H.S.), Chris Wiegand (Coatesville, PA/Downingtown H.S.) and Anthony Losorelli (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks East H.S.) and senior Ryan McGuire (West Babylon, NY/West Babylon H.S.) will also be among the top runners for the Crusader men on Saturday.

On the women’s side, Susquehanna figures to improve upon last year’s sixth-place finish, even with last year’s top two finishers in Erin Colwell (11th) and Angela Luino (23rd) lost to graduation.

Senior Jordan Bolduc (Elkton, MD/Padua Academy) has been the Crusaders’ top runner all season and carries a season-best time of 24:46.01 set at Penn State in September into the championship meet. She finished 34th last season while fellow senior Amanda Phillips (Waymart, PA/Western Wayne H.S.) came home in 35th place a year ago.

A third senior, Kassi Tylenda (Windsor, NY/Windsor H.S.), returns to action at the MAC championships after missing last year’s cross country season while studying abroad. She finished 51st at the conference meet as a freshman and came home in 25th place as a sophomore.

They will be joined by freshmen Emilie Confer (Lancaster, PA/Manheim Township H.S.), Nadya Chmil (Chinchilla, PA/Abington Heights H.S.) and Heather Matta (Holyoke, MA/Westfield H.S.) and sophomore Meghan Johnson (Hollidaysburg, PA/Hollidaysburg H.S.) among those in action on Saturday.

Susquehanna will battle defending MAC champion Elizabethtown along with Messiah and Widener for the men’s team title while Messiah is favored to edge DeSales and Moravian for the women’s crown.