HOUGHTON, N.Y. -- Houghton University will serve as host of the 2022 Empire 8 Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships on Saturday, October 29 at the Field of Dreams.

The Highlander teams will look to improve on the third place finishes each team turned in at the 2021 event.

In this video interview Head Coach Patrick Hager offers his thoughts on the 2022 season thus far and his expectations for this weekend's championships.

The Highlander men finished third at the 2021 Empire 8 Championship. Junior Caleb Kasper returns as Houghton's top runner and recently earned E8 Runner of the Week accolades. He garnered All-E8 second team honors during the Spring 2021 season and placed 22nd overall last fall. Sophomores James Eustace and Zach Tucker will also challenge for all-conference accolades, while Newcomers Ben Allen and Amos Bixler will be be counted on to contribute for Houghton, who is looking for its first league title.

For the women, the duo of Amanda Burrichter and Rachel Domaracki will look to lead the Highlanders to its second league title in four seasons in 2022. Burrichter is looking to garner her fourth All-Empire 8 first team selection this weekend. She was the league runner-up at the 2021 championship. Domaracki emerged as an All-E8 first team selection in 2021 after placing sixth overall at the championship meet. Sophomore Tabitha Clark returns after a strong first season in which she finished 18th overall at E8 Championship and earned third team accolades. Classmate Kennedy McCoy will also attempt to garner all-league accolades after an impressive start to her 2022 season. The Highlanders are ranked 10th in the USTFCCCA Niagara Region rankings heading into the E8 Championship.

Read more about each championship at the Empire 8 website:

Men's Championship Preview | Women's Championship Preview

The women's 5K starts at 11 a.m., with the men's 8K event following at noon. Live results will be available at Leone Timing.