Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra Men's and Women's Cross Country Teams will be looking for another strong outing on Friday, October 9 when they compete in the Metropolitan Conference Championships at Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. The men's 8K race begins at 1:30 p.m. with the women's 5K championship following at 2:15 p.m.

The Metropolitan Conference Championships, the second for the Pride, is one of the three meets the Pride has been targeting since the preseason. The other two, the CAA Championships and the NCAA Regionals, occur later this month and in November, respectively.

Hofstra Head Coach Pete Alfano lobbied to get into the Metropolitan Conference for the 2008 Metropolitan Championships and, in their first meet, the Pride represented themselves well with both teams placing eighth.

On the men's side last year, the Pride ran without junior Phil Giackette as senior Mike McCristall led Hofstra to the eighth-place finish. McCristall placed 32nd in 27:31 and Tom Daly, who is red-shirting this year, was 36th in 27:45. McCristall is joined by Giackette, who broke the 8K school record (25:27) at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh last week, and freshman Kyle Wightman, who also set a personal-best (26:23) last week in Pennsylvania. Sophomores Fred Shattell and Derek Lockwood round out a men's top five that is looking to crack the top five. The men placed 20th in last week's Paul Short Run.

Last year, the Pride women, behind All-Metro selection Riti Dhillon, also placed eighth in the Championships. Dhillon, who placed 13th in 19:33 in the 2008 Metro Championships, returns for her junior season and is surrounded by a talented but young crop of runners led by freshmen Meghan McCloskey, Cara Mattson and Brittany Potter. But recent injuries will make the women's trail to a successful meet even tougher this year. The women placed 36th in last week's Paul Short Run.

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