LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL – For the second time this calendar year, Siena Cross Country is set to run in a conference championship meet. The Saints will look to build upon recent success during the running of the 41^st annual MAAC Men's & Women's Cross Country Championships, which will take place at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. The men's 8k will start at 9:00 AM, while the women's 6k will take place at 9:45 am.
 
Saturday's races will be streamed live on ESPN+, which is available by clicking the corresponding link, on smartphones and tablets via the ESPN app, and on televisions through Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, and Xbox One. Live results from the race will be available by clicking the corresponding link, while live updates will be available by following @SienaXCTrack on Twitter.
 
After bubbling near the top of the conference over the last few years, the Green and Gold will look to break through in their first run at Disney since 2016. The women's team placed a program-best second during the 2020-21 MAAC Cross Country Championships on March 5, 2021, and have recorded three straight top-3 finishes beginning in 2018. The men took fourth place in March after placing second in 2018 & 2019 and third the year prior to that.
 
Both teams will battle the other 10 schools in the MAAC, with national powerhouse Iona looking to continue its long-standing dominance of the conference championships. The Iona men have recorded 30 straight conference titles, while the women have won five in a row and been champions in 15 of the last 16 years. The Gaels return eight men's and four women's All-MAAC runners from last season, including defending individual champions Jack O'Leary and Gemma Nuttall.
 
The Siena women boasted a program record four All-MAAC finishers during the 2020-21 Championship, with junior Delia McDade Clay placing eighth individually, senior Olivia Lomascolo taking ninth, graduate student Regina Rosati placing 11^th, and graduated senior Carissa Kahn finishing 12^th. The Saints boasted the second-most women's All-MAAC finishers behind Iona, with McDade Clay earning a spot on the MAAC All-Rookie Team. Current Junior Brandon Olden ran a fantastic race in the winter to earn an individual bid to the 2020-21 NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships as the first non-Iona finisher to cross the line, in eighth place. Sophomore Killian McNamee was the fifth men's freshman to cross the line last year, gaining a spot on the MAAC All-Rooke Team. Previously, current junior Aidan Gillooley was both an All-MAAC and MAAC All-Rookie Team finisher in 2019, while graduate student Stosh Davis earned All-MAAC honors in 2018 and graduate Aidan Canavan was a MAAC All-Rookie Team selection in 2017.
 
Both Siena teams returned to a conventional slate of action this fall after not racing during the previous fall campaign, with the teams taking part in seven regular season events. Both the men and the women won the Siena Cross Country Invitational on September 11, with Olden and Lomascolo taking the individual titles. Lomascolo went on to set the program record in the women's 6k (20:44.3) and becoming the first woman in program history to break the 21-minute mark at the prestigious Paul Short Run on October 1, with the women finishing 17^th and the men placing 23^rd in a crowded national competition slate.
 
Siena has seen three different runners take home four total MAAC Weekly Honors this season, with junior Tommy Anderson winning MAAC Male Runner of the Week on October 27, Olden earning the honor on October 6 and September 15, and Lomascolo taking MAAC Female Runner of the Week on September 15. The hardware marked the second time in three years that three different Saints have earned a MAAC Cross Country Weekly Honor, and the first time since 2007. That the team landed four weekly awards in a campaign. The Saints also placed 12 men and 12 women on the MAAC All-Academic Team earlier this week, with the women tying their program best for selections.