For the fourth time ever and the first time since 2008, the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ cross country programs get to host the NESCAC Championships this Saturday at Pineland Farms. The men race at noon and the women race at 1:00 p.m.

Both the men and the women won the Maine State Championship this year, and both squads show up in the national rankings, with the men ranked 28th and the women ranked 14th in all of Division III.

“We’re super excited,” women’s captain Callie Reynolds ’18 of West Hartford, Conn. said. “We found out last fall and at first it was exciting and then it was scary because it’s a 6K at Pineland which is a lot considering how intense the hills are there. But now it’s back to exciting again!”

Pineland Farms gives the Bobcats a great home course advantage.

“At Pineland, it’s super windy (as in curvy) and confusing and it took me and I’m sure a lot of people almost a year to figure it out,” says men’s captain Zach Magin ’18 of West Hartford, Conn.

Reynolds points out that the Bobcats’ knowledge of the course means they are able to pace themselves properly.

“Hopefully at the end of the race when everyone else is dying we’ll be able to be like ‘I know this hill and I can finish strong!'”, says Reynolds.

One-two runners Jessica Wilson ’17 of Cumberland, Maine, and Katherine Cook ’18 of South Burlington, Vt., push and challenge each other.

For example, right before the Maine State Meet earlier this month, Wilson, a co-captain, wasn’t feeling 100 percent. She told Cook, who threw down the gauntlet: “Let’s go do this. This is our course, we can do it, let’s get it done!”

“And that’s exactly what we did,” says Wilson, and ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ won the meet. Tomorrow (Saturday), the duo leads 20th-ranked ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ into the in Waterville.