Princeton's boys and girls cross country teams race for a Greater Miami Conference (GMC) championship Saturday, Oct. 17, at Voice of America MetroPark in West Chester.

Boys varsity starts at 9 a.m. Girls varsity follows at 9:30 a.m. Open races run at 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., GMC Sports announced. Runners will cover the 5,000-meter championship course at the 435-acre park, located at 7850 VOA Park Drive, which features nine miles of paved and natural trails.

The field is deep.

Sophomore Bryan Mendiola Cruz leads the Princeton boys into the meet. His season-best 17:44.00, set at the Lebanon Warriors Invitational, ranks 28th in the conference. Sophomore Joel Bierkan is close behind at 17:59.50, good for 32nd. Junior Quinn Broad (19:00.00), senior Thomas Anderson (19:00.70) and senior Ali'on Mosley (19:06.30) round out the Vikings' top five, with sophomore Marvin Hunter (19:38.70) and junior Luong Logan (19:51.20) adding depth.

Sycamore and Mason have packed the top of the boys standings, led by Sycamore freshman Max Frasure's conference-best 15:49.00. That gap of nearly two minutes between Frasure and Mendiola Cruz illustrates the ground Princeton's boys need to close against the conference's front-runners.

On the girls side, freshman Allison Mendiola Cruz paces Princeton with a 23:38.50 clocked at New Richmond, 58th in the GMC. Senior Erin Schutte (24:34.50), senior Kalynn Stewart (25:31.50), senior Allie Rengering (25:56.00) and freshman Aileen Mendiola Cruz (27:19.00) complete the varsity core. Three seniors anchor the group, while the two Mendiola Cruz freshmen give the program a young foundation.

Oak Hills senior Aleah Coster tops the girls leaderboard at 18:03.70, with Oak Hills, Sycamore and Mason have multiple runners near the top of the conference’s season-best list.

All listed times are season-best times listed by the GMC as of Oct. 13 and may not reflect results from the past two weeks.

Voice of America MetroPark hosts the OHSAA Southwest District meet Oct. 24, according to the running-data site MileSplit, giving runners who advance a second look at the same terrain.