VANCOUVER, Wash. --- The 55th Annual NAIA Men's and 31st Annual Women's Cross Country National Championships will take place Saturday at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. Wayland Baptist will be represented by both its men's and women's teams at this year's event. It is the third appearance for the Pioneer men and the first since 2006. The Pioneer women have competed in the national championship seven times. They finished sixth in both 2007 and 2008.

The Pioneer men, ranked second in the final NAIA Coaches Poll, hope to bring home the first cross country trophy in school history, while the goal of the unranked women is to finish among the top 25 teams.

Rain has fallen steadily over the past several days in the Pacific Northwest, and the forecast for Saturday's race is more of the same. WBU head coach Brian Whitlock thinks that may be to the advantage of one of the Pioneer men's main competitors, Southern Oregon University.

"Southern Oregon was the runner-up last year and returned everybody. They have been ranked number one for a large part of the season this year, and you would have to think that their experience, along with this kind of weather gives them a leg up on the rest of us who aren't used to running in the rain and mud."

Besides SOU, the Wayland men will have to contend with third-ranked Shawnee State (Ohio), fourth-ranked Malone University (Ohio) and Embry-Riddle University out of Florida. Malone is going for its fourth straight national championship and five total.

"I think any of the top five teams can win it, depending on who has the best day. Those other four teams may be deeper than we are, going six or seven strong, but we've been running real well in practice lately. "

The men's individual champion will most likely come down to one of three runners, according to Whitlock. Wayland's own Kennedy Kithuka, a three-time NAIA Runner of the Week this fall, has beaten defending national title holder Silas Kisorio, a junior from Oklahoma Christian, three times in head-to-head competition over the past month and a half. Also believed to be in the running is freshman Paul Chelimo of Shorter College. Chelimo has earned national runner of the week honors twice this season.

"I don't see anyone beating Kennedy if he runs like he is capable, but with conditions the way that they are, you never know."

Whitlock believes his other freshman, Edward Taragon of Kenya, could finish among the leaders. "The way Edward has been running, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see him in the top five."

The NAIA honors the top 30 runners as All-Americans, and Whitlock expects that his two sophomores, Jordan Valle of Big Spring and Hildon Boen of Kenya, should complete the 8K race among that group.

Juniors Lucius Lopez and Victor Lemay will also be running for Wayland.

"I'll be a little disappointed if we don't win, but if we can finish among the top two or three, we can still bring home a trophy and that hasn't been done before at Wayland."

The Pioneer women will be running one short on Saturday. Freshman Jennifer Secrest, who finished third at the Sooner Athletic Conference Championships two weeks ago behind teammates Milca Villegas and Catherine Leubner, was unable to make the trip due to an illness in the family.

"Jennifer's loss is huge. She has been running second or third for us all year. I'm disappointed for both her and the rest of the girls. That being said, I still believe that we have a shot at finishing among the top 25."

Villegas and Leubner, both sophomores, are making a return trip to Washington after qualifying as individuals last year. Villegas has a good shot at finishing among the top 30, according to Whitlock, and Leubner had her best meet of the year at the conference championships two weeks ago.

Diana Gutierrez, WBU's lone senior who earned All-Conference honors this year, gets her first shot at competing at nationals after missing out in 2007 and 2008 because of injuries.

The three other Wayland women competing on Saturday are all freshmen --- Kolette Dayish, Mackola Joseph and Kendra Dunn.

The 2010 National Championships are hosted by the Cascade Collegiate Conference and Concordia University of Oregon. It is the second-consecutive year that the event has been held at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site. The women's 5K is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. PST, followed by the men's 8K at 11:45 a.m.