The Drake University cross country teams are set to begin the championship portion of their season Saturday, Oct. 28, at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships in Springfield, Mo.
 
The men's 8K race is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. followed by the women's 5K race set to start at 11:30 a.m. For the first time, both races will be broadcast on The Valley on ESPN3.
 
Saturday's race will be the first MVC Championship for Drake's first-year coaching staff headed by Mark Carroll. Carroll takes a very young team to Springfield featuring 20 freshman and sophomores with just three seniors between the men's and women's teams. 
 
"We are just looking for everybody to have a good day and run up to their capability," said Carroll. "The team has trained very very well, especially the last couple of weeks. It really now is just taking it from the training course and putting it on the race course."
 
The women are led by senior Bailee Cofer (Overland Park, Kan.) who ran a personal 6K best last week at the Bradley Invitational with a time of 22:29.5
 
The men have been led this season by junior Josh Yeager (Center Point, Iowa) who has twice earned MVC Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors and recorded top-40 finishes in every race this season.
 
Prior to Saturday's race, the MVC released the results of its annual pre-championship poll as voted on by the conference's coaches. The coaches predicted Drake's men to finish fifth while the women were picked to finish eighth. Bradley's men and women were both picked to win, each garnering seven first-place votes.
 
Following Saturday's MVC Championships, the Bulldogs will prepare to race at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship in Ames, Iowa on Nov. 10.