San Antonio, TEXAS – The Trinity cross country teams begin the championship season this Saturday, November 1, as they take on the SAA Conference Championships at Southwestern University. The Tigers look primed to leave their mark early in the new conference, looking to take the team title on both sides.
The men will race first and will face staunch competition for the win. Their main foe will be Berry College, which has won each of the last four seasons. It will, as per usual, be a tale of depth for the Tigers. With an impressive 1-5 spread of 16 seconds last time out, they will be looking to put as many runners as possible in front of Berry's fifth finisher. In the preseason SAA poll, Berry was ranked ahead of the Tigers, although only by one vote. In what promises to be a close matchup, the men are seeking their first cross country conference championship since 2018, when they were members of the SCAC.
With the graduation of
Will Salony, the Tigers no longer have a runner in serious contention for the individual title. Likely, that position will go to one of Oglethorpe University's top two runners, who have distanced themselves from the rest of the SAA field this season. Eli Bliss was the team's front runner last time out, posting a time of 26:10 at Augustana. The Tigers' top runners have been no sure thing this year, however, as three different runners have finished first.
Logan Nasky is the lone All-Conference runner from last year's SCAC Championships, finishing sixth to claim the honor.
The women race next, having earned the privilege of entering the weekend as favorites to win. For the first time this season, they will race as a ranked team, tabbed #28 nationally after their performance in Louisville.
Berry also won last year's title on the women's side, although it looks to be Centre and Rhodes who will provide the most competition. The Tigers have already faced both teams once this season, when they finished five spots in front of Centre and twenty in front of Rhodes at Louisville on October 4. A win on Saturday would be their first conference championship since 2021.
The women are led by
Gianna Keena, who could be the Tigers' first individual winner on either side since Jordan Juran did so in 2021. She will be fighting most closely against Rhodes' Elena Gentry, who finished just nine seconds behind Keena at Louisville. She has been named All-Conference once before, finishing ninth at the SCAC Championships last year.
After conference, the teams will head to Claremont, CA for the DIII West Regional Championships hosted by Pomona-Pitzer, on September 15. Both teams finished eighth at last year's meet. The women have geared themselves up for a strong push to make the National Championships, currently ranked fourth in the region. If they do indeed finish in fourth, as expected, or higher, they could very well make it to nationals for the first time since 2017.
