MOUNT VERNON – Cornell carries title contenders and many medal hopefuls into Saturday's Midwest Conference Cross Country Championships, hosted by Beloit College in Beloit, Wis.
 
The day kicks off with the women's 6K race at 11 a.m. at Beloit Country Club. The men's 8K race follows at noon.
 
The top 20 individuals in each race earn all-conference awards. The Rams fielded eight all-MWC honorees a year ago, including both individual champions.
 
Cornell junior Lidia Dahlman is the defending MWC women's champion, claiming the 2025 title with an all-time best Championships time of 21:00.
 
Dahlman enters the weekend with the second-fastest mark this fall (21:39), behind Ripon's Joley Berger (21:11). Cornell's women have four more individuals seeded in the Top 25 with sophomore Gretchyn Fairlie (5th, 22:38), junior Milar Little (9th, 22:55), junior Carley Seeley (15th, 23:20) and senior Zoe Peesel (22nd, 24:09).
 
Dahlman is a two-time all-MWC honoree. Seeley also earned a medal (17th) last year.
 
Coach Jerry Frawley's No. 6 Rams are among three regionally-ranked women's teams that head this year's field. Meet favorite Ripon is No. 6 in the North Region. Grinnell is No. 8 in the Midwest.
 
Cornell finished runner-up in last year's team race behind Grinnell, 40-51. Ripon took third.
 
On the men's side, Cornell senior Jake Bach is among the race favorites after placing third a year ago. He has clocked the MWC's third-fastest time this fall (24:42), trailing the Luther duo of Michel Heinrich (23:51) and Adam Gray (23:52).
 
Cornell's No. 2 runner Isaac Morris is seeded 18th (26:27). The junior earned all-conference last year, crossing 19th. Senior Anthony Zamudio is ranked 33rd (27:01)
 
The Rams placed third in the 2025 team standings. Lawrence is the defending champion.