CLINTON, Iowa - Sandwiched in between what is turning out to be a jam-packed schedule of Ashford University athletic events on Saturday, the Saints' men's and women's cross country teams will be concluding their season at the Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships.

AU Head Coach Tyson Graham will be traveling his units to Oskaloosa bright and early tomorrow morning to the final meet hosted by William Penn University. The Saints have already run the course laid out at the Lily Sports Complex back on Oct. 10 at the William Penn Invitational.

"We're excited about tomorrow's meet and the key for both our teams is going to be our No. 4 and No. 5 runners," Graham said. "It helps that we've run the course before because our runners know how flat it is and where they need to be at a certain time."

Junior Andrew Drinkall of Hooppole, Ill., (Read Q&A With Drinkall Here) comes into the MCC Championships seeded eighth and will be looking to punch his ticket to the NAIA National Championships in Fort Vancouver, Wash., on Nov. 21.

Drinkall has made noise among the conference's top runners and clocked the school's fifth-best 8K time (27:46) at the William Penn Invitational -- the same course he faces on Saturday.

"We'd like to see Andrew get into the top seven and qualify for nationals," Graham said. "He beat (Mike) Miroux and Keith Terry (both of Mt. Mercy College) last week and that was a big goal. I know he's excited and now it's just a matter of going out and doing it."

"For our men's team, we're coming in looking to upset Viterbo University and get us to fourth in the conference," he added. "In order to do that, our four and five runners (Rafael Crisosto, Ibrahima Bah, Aleksander Jakobsen) are the key. We've talked a lot about it even before the Yellowjacket Invitational [at Graceland]."

Freshman Ray Rivera of Franklin Park, Ill., comes into the meet seeded 18th and Graham would like to see him break into the top-10. Teammates Patrick McClain of Gary, Ind., Jakobsen of Rock Island, Ill., Bah of East Moline, Ill., Crisosto of Franklin Park, Ill., and Julius Oteng of Kumasi, Ghana, will all look to finish strong.

On the women's side, freshman Nkemdilim Okwumabua of Rockford, Ill., has her sights set on one of the 10 fastest 5K times in school history tomorrow.

Okwumabua is joined by senior Nichole Salazar of Minooka, Ill., freshman Ashley Murray of Mason City, Chhutani Berry of Chicago, Datisha Duncan of Burbank, Ill., and Olivia Canales of Sterling, Ill.

The Saints moved up to fifth in the newest conference rankings, past Clarke College, but Graham is tempering expectations.

"If we can get sixth, I'll be thrilled," he said. "Again, they key is our four and five runners, but being a first-year program, it's hard to expect a whole lot. We'll go out and give it our best shot."