The Aurora University men's cross country team will travel to Mequon, Wisconsin on Saturday, October 30 as Concordia University Wisconsin will host the 2021 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Championship.

The Match-up -
Aurora University Spartans will take on a field of 12 other NACC cross country teams from Benedictine University, Concordia University Chicago, Concordia University Wisconsin, Dominican University, Edgewood College, Illinois Institute of Technology, Lakeland University, Marian University, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Rockford University, St. Norbert College and Wisconsin Lutheran College.

NACC Championship website - view here

All-Time NACC Championships history -
- AU has won seven of the 14 NACC men's cross country championships. 2006, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2020.
- MSOE has won three titles in 2007, 2014 and 2019.
- Concordia Wisconsin has won two crowns, 2010 and 2011.
- Rockford University (2008), Edgewood College (2009) and Benedictine University (2018) are the other NACC past champs.

About the Spartans –
- Head Coach Alex Lowe leads the Spartans in his first full NACC Championship meet. He will look to the following runners to score points on their journey to win the NACC crown. Jacob Bohnert, Miguel Gonzalez, Nick Valle, Cris Valencia, Jacob Hernandez, Fernando Viveros and Sam Brown.

About the NACC opponents –
Saturday's race will certainly have a different look and feel than the delayed 2020 event held last March. 2019 champion Milwaukee School of Engineering opted out of competition in cross country last spring, opening the door for host Aurora University to capture its seventh NACC men's title with 23 points. Wisconsin Lutheran College was second with 44 points, followed by Concordia Wisconsin with 68. Edgewood College's Lucas Caminiti put forth a dominant effort individually, crossing the line first overall in 27:00.32 to capture the conference title and NACC Runner of the Year honors. He was a full 44 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. CUW's Timmy Brey (27:44.53) was second.

The strong running of Caminiti and Brey has carried over to this fall as well. Caminiti has been named NACC Men's Cross Country Student-Athlete of the Week three times this fall, while Brey has been honored twice. MSOE's Nolan Kozinski and WLC's Peyton Hartman have each been honored once. Kozinski finished ninth in 2019 to help MSOE to the NACC title. Hartman was a 10th-place finisher at the Spring 2021 meet.

NCAA Schedule -  
The NCAA Division III Regional Championships will take place on Saturday, November 13. With the expansion to 10 regions this season, NACC schools will be split between the Midwest and North regional meets. Illinois-based NACC schools will compete in the Midwest Region Championships at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, Illinois, while Wisconsin-based NACC schools will compete in the North Region Championships at Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wisconsin. The NCAA Division III National Championships will be held Saturday, November 20, at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky.