Erie, PA – The Penn State Behrend men’s and women’s cross country programs are ready for the upcoming Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Championship this Saturday in Pittsburgh, PA hosted by LaRoche at 11 a.m.

The men’s team looks to win the conference trophy for the fourth consecutive year while the women hope to move up from their third place finish a year ago.

The Schenley Park course has proven to be kind to the Lions. At the Carnegie Mellon Invitational Behrend’s top runners, Denny Lydon, Dan Mello, Karl Callgreen, Justin Dipenti and Steve Monnie all ran well as the men clocked in with a team average of 28:13.16. Pacing the men will be Lydon, the two-time AMCC Runner of the Week he having a breakout year and will look to make a strong push for AMCC Runner of the Year. Healthy competition will come from Franciscan’s Bill Jones and Pitt-Bradford’s Mike Evans who have also won two Runner of the Week accolades.

The women head into the championship looking to take down Franciscan, the defending champions. On the same course earlier this season Behrend (1:43.51) finished with a team cumulative time just three seconds slower than the Barons (1:43.57). The Lions will be led by three freshmen, Katie Spade, Catie Bertges and Haley Hughes. Behrend’s terrific young talent is complimented with a veteran senior class that includes Emily Berry, Liz Keller, Jenna Fatica, Tanisha Wheatley, Alex Falvo and Mandy Wehrle. These seniors will look to finish their collegiate careers as they started in 2007 with an AMCC Championship.

The Top 15 individual performers will be tabbed to the AMCC’s All-Conference team. Last year the Lions brought home a combined 10 all-conference awards.