BLOOMSBURG--The Bloomsburg University men's and women's cross country teams will travel to the Lamb's Creek Recreation Area in Tioga, Pa. on Sunday, Oct. 26 for the ECAC D-II Championships hosted by Mansfield University. The 6,000-meter women's championship will be held at 11:00 a.m., while the men will take the course for their 8,000-meter race at 12:00 p.m. Follow @ECACSports for all updates and results.  
 
The ECAC is a regional conference comprised of schools in all three NCAA divisions. While Bloomsburg is not a member of the ECAC, it was invited to compete in the meet.  While the Huskies will not be eligible to claim the ECAC team title, there will be a meet winner with the ECAC teams later separated out to declare a champion.
 
The race field will be comprised of nine schools, including Le Moyne College, The College of Saint Rose, and Wheeling Jesuit University. Other schools from the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) who will compete are West Chester, East Stroudsburg, Seton Hill, Shippensburg, and Mansfield as the host.
 
"It's going to be an exciting weekend," said Bloomsburg head coach Bernie Empie. "We are going to see some teams that we haven't seen yet this year. It will be a good test for our kids to see where they stack up against the other half of the conference. It will be certainly competitive being that we are running against some ranked teams in the region."
 
As the Huskies have reached the midway point of the season, aches and pains start to be a concern for the runners and coach Empie. "Danny Dugan is day to day dealing with hamstring tenderness and Erika Edwards (Bethlehem/Notre Dame Green Pond) is dealing with tendonitis. They could be a go or could not be a go, depending on how they feel transitioning in preparation for the race."
 
The Huskies men's and women's teams both were successful in the Husky Invitational on Oct. 11. The men's team took second place with Kyle Phillips finishing second overall with a time of 27:14 with Danny Dugan taking third in a time of 28:01.
 
The women's team took first place with Lauren Lehman (Mt. Holly Springs/Boiling Springs) taking first overall with a time of 22:55. Kate Dodds finished second in 23:12, while freshman Hannah Boudreau was third in 23:20 with Teresa Ortiz took fourth in 23:32. The women's team is ranked third in the USTFCCA regional rankings for the fourth consecutive week.
 
"Coming off a good home meet, we should be ready to go," said Empie.
 
The Huskies will travel back to Mansfield for the PSAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 8.