WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – William & Mary men's cross country starts the championship season on Friday morning, hosting the CAA Championship. The event is set for Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va.
 
The Championship Field
The Tribe will host the 2023 CAA Championships at the Pole Green Park in Mechanicsville, Va. The women's 6K is set for 10 a.m. with the men's 8K to follow at 11 a.m. It marks the first time in league history the cross country championship will take place at Pole Green Park. The course, which will serve as host to the USATF Cross Country National Championships in January, consists of a 2K loop and is extremely spectator friendly. With Campbell joining the CAA this fall, the league sits at 11 teams competing for the men's cross country championship. Along with the Tribe and Camels, the league lineup consists of Charleston, Elon, Hampton, Hofstra, Monmouth, NC A&T, UNCW, Northeastern, and Stony Brook. The Tribe is one of three regionally-ranked teams in the field with Stony Brook (No. 4) and Northeastern (No. 8) coming in the top 10 in the Northeast Region. The top 15 runners at the championship will earn All-CAA honors to 14.
 
Tribe News and Notes
- Overall, the Tribe has won 28 CAA Championships, the most in any sport in conference history. Combined with 15 conference titles from the Southern Conference, W&M has 43 total championships.
 
- W&M has won 21 of the last 23 CAA Championships, including a streak of 20 in a row between 2000-19. The Tribe has placed in the top three every year dating back to 1988.
 
- The Tribe will run at the Pole Green Park course for the second time this season. The Green and Gold placed fourth to open the season at the Richmond Spider Alumni Open in a 6K race.
 
- W&M came in at No. 15 in the latest USTFCCCA Southeast Region Rankings. The Tribe has been ranked each of the last four weeks, coming in at No. 14 the previous three weeks.
 
- Most recently, the Tribe placed fourth in the Orange Race of the Virginia XC23 Pre-Nationals on Oct. 14. W&M finished just three points out of third place and defeated a pair of regionally ranked teams – Kansas State (No. 14 Midwest) and Kent State (No. 14 Great Lakes Region). Patrick North (24:45.7) and Nate Jennings (24:47.7) led the Tribe with top-20 finishes and placed 17th and 18th, respectively. 
 
- At the Paul Short Run on Sept. 30, the Tribe placed its first five among the top 100 and out-raced 11 regionally-ranked teams in finishing 14th in the 43-team field. W&M's top five runners had a spread of just 9.2 seconds. Freshman Hayes Trapp led the way in his first action for the Tribe, placing 72nd in the 392-runner field. Juniors Zack Ericksen and Jennings finished just four tenths apart in 77th and 78th place, respectively.

- At the Adidas XC Challenge, the Tribe finished as the runner-up in a 17-team field, a spot in front of Southeast Region No. 5 Duke. W&M finished ahead of four CAA foes at the event (Elon in seventh, Charleston in eighth, Campbell in 11th, and N.C. A&T in 14th). The Tribe placed nine runner among the top 35 in a 153-runner field

- Senior Sam Pritchard was named the CAA Runner of the Week on Sept. 19. He led the Tribe, finishing eighth in a time of 18:20.1 at the Adidas XC Challenge.