SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Lewis-Clark State College men’s and women’s cross country teams will be the overwhelming favorites again at the Frontier Conference meet on Friday at  Sugar House Park.

The women’s race begins at 9 a.m., Pacific Time, followed by the men’s race at 10 a.m.

This is the third year of the meet and the both Warrior teams are looking for their third straight championship. At last year’s meet, the men’s team swept the top five spots, a first under veteran coach Mike Collins.

Collins says his teams know they have the bull’s-eye on their backs. The men’s team is ranked No. 10 in the NAIA and has run well all season. The women’s team is ranked No. 11 and is finally getting healthy.

“I know the kids are pretty excited for this race,” Collins says. “They set their goals at the beginning of the season to win this meet again. We just have to run like we have been all season. We need to just worry about ourselves and do what we do and take care of business.”

The men’s team may be without its top runner from early in the season, freshman Dave Marks, who is nursing a sore Achilles’ tendon. Collins said it will be a race-time decision if he’ll run.

The good news, however, is that everyone on the team is eligible to run at the conference meet, with the two team winners automatically qualifying for nationals. For the national meet, each team will only have six runners if LCSC qualifies, Marks could run at nationals in two weeks in Vancouver, Wash., even if he doesn’t run on Friday.

Eric Tuwei, the lone senior on this year’s squad, won the conference meet last year and the Conference Runner of the Year award that goes along with it.  Juniors Sean Huey and Chris McConnell, and sophomore Grant Eldridge also were in the top five at the conference meet a year ago.

On the women’s side, Stephanie Shuel won the meet last year as a freshman but has been hampered this season and is just getting back into shape. Seniors Kyli Astle and Lindsay Szybura, and sophomore, Kelsey Klettke have led the Warriors for most of the season.

“I think this is going to be an intense race for us,” Collins said. “In the previous two conference meets, the Conference Runner of the Year has come from our team. But at our home meet two weeks ago, there were two girls ahead of us on the women’s side. I know our girls want to keep that tradition going so we’ll see who steps up. On the guy’s side, I honestly feel we have 4-5 guys who are capable of winning it. It should be two interesting races.”

Like the men’s team, the Warrior women’s roster includes a number of underclassmen. Joining Astle and Szybura in the senior class is Sheree Barbour, who specialty is middle distance races in track.

The national meet is Nov. 21. The LCSC women has qualified for nationals eight straight years as a team while the men have qualified three years, but has sent a team or an individual to the meet for six straight years.

Here are this week’s NAIA polls.

MEN

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)	TOTAL POINTS
1	1	Southern Oregon University (13)	614
2	2	Malone University (Ohio) (9)	609
3	3	Aquinas College (Mich.)	571
4	4	Concordia University (Neb.)	546
5	5	University of British Columbia	544
6	6	Shawnee State University (Ohio)	522
7	7	California State University-San Marcos	485
8	12	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.)	472
9	8	Bryan College (Tenn.)	460
10	9	Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho)	446
11	11	College of Idaho	405
12	10	Simon Fraser University (B.C.)	395
13	14	Shorter College (Ga.)	382
14	13	Black Hills State University (S.D.)	363
15	15	Wayland Baptist University (Texas)	319
16	16	Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.)	301
17	19	McKendree University (Ill.)	293
18	17	Cedarville University (Ohio)	261
19	21	Eastern Oregon University	258
20	20	Dakota State University (S.D.)	255
20	18	Oklahoma Baptist University	255
22	22	California Baptist University	222
23	23	Oklahoma Christian University	198
24	24	Westmont College (Calif.)	153
25	RV	Concordia University (Ore.)	113

Others receiving votes: Lindenwood University (Mo.) 109; Siena Heights University (Mich.) 85; Vanguard University (Calif.) 62; Doane College (Neb.) 60; Lee University (Tenn.) 57; Taylor University (Ind.) 30; Kansas Wesleyan University 29; Cornerstone University (Mich.) 24; University of Rio Grande (Ohio) 21; Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) 11; Southwestern College (Kan.) 3; Marian University (Ind.) 3; Spring Arbor University (Mich.) 1; Dickinson State University (N.D.) 1; Biola University (Calif.) 1; The Master's College (Calif.) 1; Northwood University (Texas) 1; University of Great Falls (Mont.) 1.

WOMEN

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL (1ST PLACE VOTES)	TOTAL POINTS
1	1	Azusa Pacific University (Calif.) (23)	653
2	2	California State University-San Marcos	632
3	3	Simon Fraser University (B.C.)	611
4	4	Biola University (Calif.)	589
5	5	Malone University (Ohio)	566
6	6	College of Idaho	540
7	7	Cedarville University (Ohio)	521
8	8	Concordia University (Calif.)	512
9	9	Concordia University (Neb.)	488
10	10	Spring Arbor University (Mich.)	457
11	11	Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho)	432
12	12	Morningside College (Iowa)	418
13	13	University of British Columbia	404
14	14	Indiana Wesleyan University	376
15	15	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.)	357
16	16	Aquinas College (Mich.)	331
17	17	Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.)	314
18	18	Black Hills State University (S.D.)	312
19	19	Eastern Oregon University	281
20	20	Milligan College (Tenn.)	243
21	22	Park University (Mo.)	218
22	21	Vanguard University (Calif.)	214
23	23	Shorter College (Ga.)	202
24	24	Saint Xavier University (Ill.)	175
25	25	Kansas Wesleyan University	157

Others receiving votes: Friends University (Kan.) 107; Westmont College (Calif.) 66; Jamestown College (N.D.) 59; Northwestern College (Iowa) 56; Bethel College (Ind.) 35; Southern Oregon University 33; Roberts Wesleyan College (N.Y.) 32; Lindenwood University (Mo.) 28; Taylor University (Ind.) 14; Concordia University (Ore.) 5; Houghton College (N.Y.) 1.