Hempstead, NY - The Hofstra Men's Cross Country team heads to Charleston, South Carolina this Saturday, October 31 for the 2015 Colonial Athletic Association Cross Country Championships at Laurel Hill Plantation in Mount Pleasant. The men's 8K championship begins at 11 a.m.

Six schools will be looking to upset the 15-time defending champion William and Mary Tribe when the gun goes off on Saturday. The Tribe captured their 15th consecutive title and the 20th in the last 22 seasons last November at Franklin Park in Boston. William and Mary finished with 36 points, followed by Northeastern with 48 and then-CAA newcomer Elon with 85 points. The College of Charleston was fourth with 100 points, UNCW was fifth with 128 and Hofstra finished with 147 points. Luis Vargas from Elon was the individual champion in a time of 24:11.

The Hofstra Men will be running all seven of their student-athletes this week led by graduate-student Douglas Dourado. The transfer from the University of Miami has led the Pride in all three meets this season including a personal record of 25:39 at the 8K Brown Rothenberg Run on October 16.

Junior captain Jack Finlayson, who was Hofstra's second-finisher and 21st overall in 25:57 at last year's CAA Championship, posted his best time of the season in his last outing at Brown, placing 36th in 26:06. Sophomore Alan Hetherington, who was the second Pride finisher in the first two meets of the season, also clocked a personal record in his last meet, posting a time of 26:07 to place 37th at Brown.

Redshirt sophomore Riley Leder posted his season-best time of 26:36 at Brown to place 49th. Sophomore Rodney Chirchir, who sat out the last meet at Brown with an injury, will return to the line-up for the CAA Championship and could be the Pride's fifth runner. Two juniors, Michael Simon, who ran a personal-best of 27:06 at Brown, and Austin Jenkins, who posted a season-best time of 28:38 at Brown, will be looking to crack the scoring five.
 
While Hofstra has an improved line-up this season, they will be running against several tough opponents led by the Tribe of William and Mary. The Tribe, ranked 13th in the Southeast region, had a strong fall campaign, picking up two team victories and turning in some strong performances among the nation's best. William and Mary was last in action at the Wisconsin adidas Invitational where they were led once again by two-time CAA Runner of the Week Faris Sakallah. W&M also features senior Ryan Gousse, who was the runner-up at last year's championship.

Northeastern has put together another solid fall season, including a third place finish at the New England Championships. The Huskies have been led by transfer Nephat Maritim, who has earned CAA Runner of the Week honors twice.

College of Charleston, which will be running on its home course, has posted four top-three finishes this season, including victories at the College of Charleston Invitational and the College of Charleston Classic. The Cougars have been led by sophomore Crew Kosiorek, who has finished first among his teammates five times this season.

Elon has been led by rookie Nick Ciolkowski, who has earned CAA Runner of the Week honors twice. Ciolkwoski has posted some of the fastest times in program history and is coming off an impressive top-20 finish at the Wake Forest Invitational to close the season.

UNCW has been led by sophomore Alex Boseman, who was the Seahawks top finisher in each of the final four meets of the year. Boseman also picked up CAA Runner of the Week honors after winning the Coastal Carolina Invitational.

At the 2014 CAA Championship, the Tribe had six runners place in the top-15 individually, led by second-place finisher Ryan Gousse with a time of 25:04.83. The CAA individual title went to Elon's Luis Vargas, who crossed the line in 24:11.36 on a cold, wet day in Boston to set a new school record for an 8K race. Northeastern recorded a second-place team finish at the CAA Championship for the second year in a row.