This Saturday is the kickoff to both the Men’s and Women’s Cross Country season, and both programs are coming off extremely strong finishes in 2008.

On the Women’s side the Gophers, with an 11th place finish in the 2008 NCAA Championships, joined Stanford and Illinois as the only programs to finish in the top-12 of the NCAA Championships in four consecutive seasons. Minnesota also captured the Big Ten and NCAA Midwest Regional Championships for the second year in a row.

On the Men’s side, led by two All-Americans, Minnesota placed 15th at the NCAA Championships last season. One of the biggest questions for the Gophers heading into this season will be how they deal with losing All-American and three-time team MVP Chris Rombough, who graduated last year. Minnesota is counting on its other All-American, junior Hassan Mead, to help fill the gap left by Rombough. Mead was named an All-American, first-team All-Big Ten, and co-team MVP, an award he shared with Rombough, for the 2008 season.

The men begin their season with the St. Olaf opener, which starts Saturday at 10:00 a.m. The women open with the Minnesota Intrasquad Meet, held at Les Bolstad Golf Course, also at 10:00 a.m on Saturday.