CAPE CANAVERAL - A field of nearly 100 athletes representing nine national federations will compete this Saturday, March 7, at the fifth annual North America, Central America and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) Cross Country Championships at the Chain of Lakes Park in Titusville, Fla. 

The NACAC Championships will contest races for the open men's 8 km, open women's 6 km, junior men's 6 km and junior women's 4 km. In addition to the American hosts, teams from Canada, Jamaica and Puerto Rico will be among those competing for team titles at the 2009 NACAC Championships.

  Leading Team USA in the junior women's 4 km will be World Cross Country team member Emily Pritt (North Canton, Ohio), Molly Grabill (Poway, Calif.), Rolonda Jumbo (Santa Fe, N.M.), Lacey Oeding (Jasper, Ind.), and Colin Ellis (Dallas, Texas).

The men's junior team will be led by USA Junior Cross Country Championships fourth-place finisher and World Cross Country squad member Ryan Hill (Hickory, N.C.).  Joining Hill will be Joey Bywater (Seattle, Wash.), Ryan Prentice (Normandy Park, Wash.), Eric Fernandez (Ballwin, Mo.), and Griffith Graves (Abingdon, Va.).

The men's team for the open 8 km event includes Lucas Meyer (Hartford, Conn.), Jeremy Johnson (Bloomington, Ind.), Giliat Ghebray (Flagstaff, Ariz.), Stephen Pifer (Eugene, Ore.), and Antonio Vega (Minneapolis, Minn.).

The open women's 6 km squad will be Clara Grandt (Morgantown, W.V.), Kasie Enman (Huntington, Vt.), Hanna Grinaker (Madison, Wis.), Erin Nehus (Indianapolis, Ind.), and Megan Guiney (New York, N.Y.).

The NACAC Cross Country Championships begin at 9:15 a.m. with the    Junior Women's 4 km, followed by the Junior Men's 6 km at 9:45 a.m., the Senior Women's 6 km race at 10:30 a.m. and concluding with the Senior Men's 8 km at 11:15 a.m.

For more information on the NACAC Cross Country Championships visit www.usatf.org.