SLU to host Liberty League XC Championships

On Saturday, November 2, St. Lawrence University will host the 2024 Liberty League Cross Country Championships on the Ronald C. Hoffman Championship Cross Country Course. The women’s 6000-meter (3.73 mile) race will begin at 11 a.m., while the men’s 8000-meter (4.97 mile) race starts at 12 p.m., with meet awards taking place at 1 p.m.

Both the men’s and women’s races will consist of nine competing teams and 100 or more runners. These teams are St. Lawrence, Bard, Clarkson, Hobart and William Smith, Ithaca, RIT, RPI, Vassar and Union.

The meet rotates location among the home courses for each Liberty League team and hasn’t been hosted at St. Lawrence since 2015. The Ronald C. Hoffman Championship Cross Country Course, nicknamed “The Hoff,” is located right on campus next to the Augsbury Center and Newell and Leithead fieldhouses. The Hoff is made up of grass and gravel terrain and loops through fields and the woods by the Little and Grass Rivers, and is one of the most spectator friendly courses in the nation. It has hosted many important races throughout its history and is always kept in pristine condition.

“Our program has hosted a lot of meets from regular season invitationals all the way to the NCAA Championships, but the conference meet is always a very special event,” said St. Lawrence University Men’s Cross Country Head Coach John Newman. “The familiarity with the other teams in the Liberty League and the seemingly head to head competition on the course makes for some compelling action.”

It is well known among runners throughout the northeast for the 2019 D3 Atlantic Regional Championships when, despite heavy snowstorms, the meet was still held smoothly on the course, even when the Division I Northeast Regional Meet in Buffalo was moved to the roads. This Saturday, the course will be well set up for athletes and fans alike.

“There will be live results and scores at several intermediate points along the course so spectators can follow the team scores as the race develops,” said Newman. “We take great pride in hosting events like this especially on such a perennial course for championships in in the Northeast. So many great national class runners (NCAA Champions and countless All-Americans) have covered the very same route that the Liberty League teams will on Saturday, and can compare their performances off of our all time top 100 lists.”

The St. Lawrence Saints women’s and men’s teams have both had some strong performances this season and will look to carry this momentum into Liberty Leagues. At their last meet at the Connecticut College Invitational, the women’s team was led by Avery Blanchard ’28, who covered the 6000-meter course in a personal best time of 22:18.8 and placed 50th overall. The men’s team was led by Nick Lyndaker ’26, who ran the 8000-meter course in a personal best time of 24:20.0 and got fourth overall.

This meet should be a very exciting event to attend, and the crowd energy always provides a great boost for the St. Lawrence runners. “Another part of what makes competing at home on the Hoff so special is that we get such tremendous support from the campus community on race day,” Newman said. “That really fuels the team members and makes for an electric atmosphere.”

So, if you are free this Saturday morning, you should make the short walk over to the course to watch the Saints women’s and men’s teams compete!