The Drake University cross country teams are set to begin the championship portion of their season on Saturday, Oct. 29, when they compete at the MVC Championship in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
 
The championship races get underway with the women's 5k at 10:30 a.m. followed by the men's 8k at 11:30 a.m. at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course.
 
Saturday's MVC Championship will be the first for the bulk of the Bulldogs' roster. The men's and women's team have a combined 10 freshmen on the roster this season as the young teams have gained valuable racing experience throughout the season.
 
Despite the youth, the Bulldogs' veterans have enjoyed tremendous success throughout the season. For the women, junior Bailee Cofer (Overland Park, Kan.) has led the team in every race this season. Her season-best 5k time of 17:40.57 currently ranks as the ninth-fastest in the Valley this season.
 
Meanwhile, the men's team boasts one of the favorites to win the individual MVC title in senior Reed Fischer (Minnetonka, Minn.). Last season, Fischer finished as the MVC runner-up, but returns this year with the fastest 8k time to date by a Valley runner by more than 23 seconds with a 23:53.25 finish at the Chile Pepper Festival on Oct. 1.
 
Fischer has been the Bulldogs' top runner in every raced he has started this season and has thrice been named the MVC Cross Country Athlete of the Week to lead the league in that honor as well. One of Fischer's mentors, Brogan Austin, was the last Bulldog to win an individual MVC title, doing so in 2011 to become the 11^th Bulldog to become an MVC cross country champion.
 
Prior to Saturday's race, the MVC released the results of its annual pre-championship poll as voted on by the conference's coaches. Those coaches projected the Drake men's team to finish seventh while the women's team was selected eighth. Bradley was the unanimous favorite to take the men's team title and also the projected favorite in the women's race.
 
Following Saturday's MVC Championship, the Bulldogs advance to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Iowa City, Iowa, on Nov. 11.