DURANGO, Colo.  Western Colorado men's and women's cross country head to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference championship meet Saturday looking to surpass the preseason rankings from the conference coaches polls.

Both Mountaineer programs were voted fourth in their respective polls by league coaches, spots that current regional U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) rankings equal or better.

The national Division II rankings list Western ninth in both the women's and men's USTFCCCA polls. The Mountaineer men climbed one spot in the October 26 poll, while the women moved up two spots.

In the USTFCCCA South Central Region it's the Mountaineer men listed third (up one spot) and the women maintaining their No. 5 spot, but trailing only three other RMAC teams.

Western is coming off a strong showing at the NCAA D-II Pre-Nationals Meet in Washington state on Oct. 22, when the women finished second and the men third.

In their previous meets this season, both the Mountaineer men and women captured the team titles at the Mountaineer/Cowboy Invite and the Gig Leadbetter Maverick Stampede.

2021 All-American Katie Doucette finished second in the women's 6-kilometer race at Pre-Nationals, following up a first-place finish at the Maverick Stampede and a second (by 3/10s of a second) at the Mountaineer Invite.

Teammate and 2021 All-American Allison Beasley was third at the Mountaineer meet, second at the Maverick race, and ninth at Pre-Nationals.

Behind Doucette and Beasley, Leah Taylor has been next in line at all three meets and Emma Kjellsen has been the fifth scoring runner in each meet. The fourth runner has switched between Gretchen Slattum, Emma Berg and Dulce Carlos.

The gap between Doucette and Kjellsen has never been larger than 84 seconds, with the narrowest spread at 63 seconds.

Simon Kelati has led the men's contingent all season, winning both the Mountaineer and Maverick 8K races then finishing sixth overall at Pre-Nationals.

Michael Grabowski has been a constant within the top five Mountaineers finishing as the second Western runner at Pre-Nationals and the fifth of five Western scoring spots at the other two races.

Will Johnson, Albert Hesse, Juan Diaz and Ryan Outler have each finished within Western's top five twice. Cracking that top five at Pre-Nationals was Jacob Hernandez.

The Mountaineer men have been a crimson wave crossing the finish line at each event. The spread between Kelati and the fifth runner at the Mountaineer and Maverick meets was just 17 seconds, and at Pre-Nationals – with 217 competitors – the spread only grew to 49 seconds.

In 2021, the Western women were fifth at the RMAC championship, fourth at the NCAA D-II South Central Regional, and ninth at the NCAA championship meet. The Mountaineer men were fourth at RMACs, fifth at the regional, and seventh at the national championship.