National powers will collide tomorrow at the Big East cross country championships, as the Georgetown women’s cross country team travels to Jamesville, N.Y., to toe the line in one of the NCAA’s most competitive conferences.

Standing atop the conference is rival No. 1 Villanova, the two-time defending Big East champion and reigning national champion. The No. 5 Hoyas and No. 8 Syracuse Orange look to challenge the Villanova Wildcats by bringing deep squads that have raced well all season. Rounding out the top competitors is No.13 Providence. The top of the field is so deep that only Villanova and Georgetown have gone undefeated in all their meets this season, while the Orange’s only blemish is a runner-up finish to the Wildcats at the Penn State National Invitational.

In the team race, Villanova returns with four All-Americans in their squad that took home the national title a year ago. In the first of their two big meets of the season, the Wildcats easily beat No. 2 Oregon and No. 3 Florida State at the Notre Dame Invitational in early October. They then made quick work of Syracuse at the Penn State Invitational two weeks ago.

The Wildcats are led by two of the top individuals in the country in redshirt junior Sheila Reid and senior Amanda Marino. Combining for 10 All-American awards, Reid is the defending Big East individual champion, while Marino was the top Villanova finisher at the NCAA nationals a year ago. Junior Bogdana Mimic and senior Ali Smith are the other two returners from last year’s squad, while freshman Emily Lipari has stepped in nicely to give the Wildcats the strongest top five in the country. One to watch is junior Callie Hogan who redshirted last fall but was the fifth runner on the 2008 Wildcats team that finished sixth in the nation. Hogan looked strong in her first action of the season last weekend, winning the low-key Haverford Invitational.

The last time the Wildcats failed to win a meet was at the 2008 NCAA national championships, but both the Orange and the Hoyas look poised to challenge the defending conference champions.

Syracuse, who finished third in the Big East last year, brings an experienced team that has the pleasure of running at home on a course that none of the top teams in the Big East have ever raced on. Leading the way for the Orange all season has been senior Katie Hursey, the top returning finisher from the team that took 18th place at last year’s national championships. After Hursey, the Orange do not have any other runners that appear to run with the front group.

“They are probably much better than people realize,” Women’s Head Coach Chris Fox said of the Orange. “This is their home course. It’s probably been something that they’ve been building up to for the past couple of years.”

For the Hoyas, who finished fourth in the conference in 2009, the duo of junior Emily Infeld and sophomore Emily Jones give the Blue and Gray what the Orange lack this year – a chance to match Reid’s and Marino’s points up front. Infeld, who has led the Hoyas for the past two years, is a five-time All-American and returning top-10 NCAA nationals finisher. Jones, on the other hand, is in the midst of a breakout season, most recently running 20:20 to finish fifth at the pre-national race.

“I feel like we can definitely give Villanova a run for their money. Obviously [Reid] and [Marino] are really great girls and super competitive. I’m definitely looking to be right up there with them,” Infeld said.

Besides Infeld and Jones, the Hoyas are similar to the Orange in that they have six runners who could all be in the top five on a given day. Middle distance track standout and redshirt senior Renee Tomlin is finally coming into her own this year, while freshman Madeline Chambers has more than fulfilled her potential. Sophomore Kirsten Kasper is much improved from last year and has also been running strong all season.

The Hoyas could receive an unexpected boost from the back of the pack, where freshman Joanna Stevens, sophmore Rachel Schneider and junior Katie McCafferty have yet to show their best this season. Stevens, a highly touted recruit, has looked strong in workouts after the pre-national race while Schneider was a key contributor on last year’s team. McCafferty is a big-time distance talent with a history of performing well in the championship meets, but she has been hampered by injury and illness over the past year and a half. In her first full season since her freshman year, she has been getting stronger each week. Junior Lauren Borduin, who also raced well in the pre-national open race, rounds out the Hoyas’ top nine.

“Sometimes you catch yourself thinking, ‘You know, we can really do this. We can match up really well,” Tomlin said. “We have exactly what Villanova has. In fact, I think we have more depth. We have eight runners that can be the top five any day and nine solid runners.”

Not to be overlooked is Providence, a dark horse who could mix things up among the top teams. Led by sophomore standout Shelby Greany, the Friars bring back five runners from the team that shocked the country by taking 11th place at the NCAA national championships a year ago after finishing fifth in the Big East. Running without talented freshman Laura Nagel of New Zealand at the pre-national race, the Friars still finished in fourth place. If she is back in action, they could surprise many in the Big East.

For the first time in recent years, the Hoya men do not enter the Big East championship as one of the favorites. That honor goes to No. 17 Syracuse.

The Orange are led by junior All-American Tito Medrano, who returns from last year’s historic team that claimed the school’s first Big East and Northeast Regional championships along with its first NCAA nationals apperance in 35 years. This season, the Orange finished a disappointing fourth place at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational but bounced back at the Penn State National Invitational to take first. The Orange have benefitted from redshirt junior Steve Weeks and redshirt freshman Robert Molke stepping up in a big way this season.

While the No.21 Hoyas may not bring as much experience to the table, they are relishing the chance to come in under the radar and compete on the conference’s biggest stage.

“It’s a new position to be in, but it’s fun being the underdog,” redshirt senior Alex Bean said. “We get on the line and we’re saying to ourselves, `We’re young, we’re unexperienced, we’re scrappy.’ It’s cool to be able to just go out, run tough and surprise people.”

Senior Ayalew Taye gives the Hoyas a legitimate chance for the individual win as he has really come on strong in what has been his most consistent season on the Hilltop. Taye took home 14th place at pre-nationals two weeks ago and looks to compete for the win from the start.

“He definitely can run with the top three to five guys in the Big East. There’s nobody in there that’s clearly just a better runner than Ayalew,” Head Coach Patrick Henner said. “He definitely needs to get himself up there with that very front pack. If he does that, he’s going to have a good race or hopefully a great race.”

Next for the Hoyas is redshirt junior T.C. Lumbar, who has been perfecting his race strategy of running his own race and steadily moving his way through the field. Coming off of a great race at pre-nationals, he gives the Hoyas another runner up at the front. Joining in the the Hoyas’ best chances for top finishes is redshirt sophomore Andrew Springer. Having run his best race to date at pre-nationals, Springer brings a lot of potential to the line every time out.

“Ever since [the] Paul Short [Invitational], we’ve been really pleased. He’s stepped it up in the workouts. He’s stepped it up in the pre-nationals,” Henner said. “He definitely has the potential to be a top ten finisher at the Big East, which for his first season of cross country would be great.”

Freshman Tyler Anyan, one of the most talented runners on the team, could be poised for a big race despite his up-and-down debut season.

“I think he’s going to be ready to run well for us. He’s a big-time talent and a tough competitor,” Henner said. “He’s a really good closer. I think if he can just hang in there tough with the pack and then use his closing speed, he can contribute to the team’s success.”

Redshirt sophomores Bobby Peavey and Ben Furcht both battled illness early in the season but have looked healthy at pre-nationals. Redshirt junior James Grimes is coming off of a great performance in the pre-national open race. Sophomore Evan Bloomberg has been training strong and is looking to carry that over to the course.

If the Hoyas put it all together, they will have a shot at the title. But it’s still all about getting better from race to race.

“We could very well go out, run solid, and have Syracuse beat us. And you know, we’d be happy with that as long as we improve from pre-nationals,” Bean said. “We’ve got to give ourselves a chance to win at least If we go out there and do our job, we certainly could beat them.”