Hempstead, NY – The Hofstra Women's Cross Country team heads to Boston, Massachusetts this Saturday, November 1 for the 2014 Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Championships at Franklin Park. The women's 6K championship begins at 11 a.m.

Nine teams will battle for the 2014 CAA Women's Championship, also at Franklin Park, in the 6K race. William & Mary, which is currently receiving votes nationally in the USTFCCCA Coaches' Poll, captured its second straight CAA title last season. James Madison won back-to-back championships in 2010 and 2011 and placed second to the Tribe the past two years.

Hofstra is led by junior Becky Celorio (Scotia, NY), who has been the Pride's top runner in four of the five races this season. Celorio placed 23rd in the 2013 CAA Championship in 23:22. Senior Eva Holtermann, who led the Pride at the LIU Post Invitational this season, placed 59th in 25:57 while junior Lisa Eberwein was 73rd in 27:18 in last year's conference meet.

The Tribe have been ranked nationally for most of the season, and are paced by a handful of experienced upperclassmen, including four runners who placed in the top 10 at last year's championship. Redshirt junior Carolyn Hennessey won weekly CAA awards three times this season and is coming off a 19^th-place finish at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational. Hennessey has also obtained first, second and third-place finishes individually this fall. Tribe juniors Meghan McGovern and Dylan Hassett placed fourth and fifth, respectively, in the 2013 CAA Championship race and also have registered two top 10 finishes each this year.

As a team, William & Mary has posted three first place finishes this season – Spider Alumni Open (Aug. 29), the W&M College Open (Sept. 12) and the CNU Invitational (Oct. 18) – and one impressive second-place showing at the Panorama Farms Invitational in late September. Overall, the Tribe has won the CAA title 19 times.

James Madison's best team races this fall have come at the Paul Short Run, where it finished 17th, and at the NCAA Pre-Nationals, where they placed 11^th out of 33 squads in the Dukes' final tune up before the CAA Championships. Junior Kathleen Stewart won the weekly CAA award on Oct. 7 following a 19th-place finish at the Paul Short race. Stewart placed 20^th at the Pre-Nationals while sophomore Tessa Mundell, who has also raced well this year, finished 33^rd overall. JMU has finished either first or second in 17 of the past 18 CAA championships.

Delaware and Towson are also expected to be in the mix and each is led by talented seniors. The Blue Hens are guided by senior Katrina Steenkamer, who has won three individual events this fall. She won CAA Runner of the Week recognition on Sept. 16 after winning the Delaware Invitational and also won the Towson Invitational as well as the UD Blue & Gold Invitational earlier this season.

TU's Elisabeth Tauber, who finished eighth at the 2013 CAA Cross Country Championships, won the CAA's first weekly honor of 2014 on Sept. 2 after she captured the individual title at the Baltimore Metro Meet for the second year in a row. Tauber and fellow senior Kara Bucaro finished sixth and 14^th, respectively, to help the Tigers place third as a team at the Penn State National Meet on Oct. 11.

Northeastern sophomores Jordan O'Dea and Lucy Young each won weekly conference honors one time this fall. O'Dea earned a first-place finish at the Shawn M. Nassaney Invitational on Sept. 6 and Young placed second out of 260 competitors at the New England Championships on Oct. 11 in a race that was also held at Franklin Park.

Elon competes in its first women's cross country championship this weekend. The Phoenix has capable upperclassmen in junior Elyse Bierut and senior Jenny Gallagher. Bierut helped Elon place second at the NC State adidas XC Challenge, placing fourth overall. She also broke the Phoenix record for a 5K race with a time of 17:25. Gallagher, meanwhile, has led her team four times this fall, including a 55^th-place showing at the Pre-Nationals on Oct. 18.

UNCW junior Dakota Foskey is coming off a ninth-place effort out of 83 runners at the CofC Invitational, while College of Charleston's Carlee Cassidy finished second in the same race and was followed by teammates Patricia Rein and Cara Butcher. Those finishes helped the Cougars claim top honors.

Last year, William and Mary won with 15 points behind Elaina Balouris first-place finish in 21:17. The Tribe was followed by James Madison (81), Delaware (86), Northeastern (106), College of Charleston (150), Towson (155), UNCW (159) and Hofstra (229).