LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The culmination of all the hard work and mile stacked upon mile has arrived for the Bellarmine University cross country teams.

On Saturday at John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Alabama, the Knights squads will compete for the third time in the ASUN Championship. Action begins at 9 a.m. (ET) with the women's 5k race, while the men's 8k will follow at 9:45 a.m.

BEEN HERE BEFORE
Bellarmine will not need to familiarize itself with John Hunt Park. In fact, for the Knights, it's akin to simply reviewing material already thoroughly covered before a big exam.

Bellarmine competed Sept. 16 at John Hunt Park in the North Alabama Showcase and flourished at the venue. The two Knights squads combined for eight all-time top-50 performances.

Knowing the lay of the land should be a major asset heading into the conference meet.

"Absolutely," Knights Coach Chase Broughton said of the value of having previous knowledge of the course. "Getting to run and race on this course six weeks ago will help us for the conference championships. It has helped us create a better gameplan of how we want to attack the race going into it, and it also gave the athletes a chance to feel the course out. They will have a great understanding of how they will feel at certain points of the race and will be able to better handle that feeling because of already experiencing a race on this course."

SLIMMING DOWN
Bellarmine has largely participated in sprawling meets this season. That won't be the case with the ASUN Championship, which allows for a maximum of nine runners per team.

Knights women expected to compete are: seniors Chloe Powell, Ellie Schroeder, Emma Wells and Allison Tripure; juniors Justice Pohlman-Singleton and Anna Wells; sophomores Hannah Ellis and Trisha Sexton; and freshman Sierra Oesterling.

Knights men expected to compete are: junior Nick Lewis; sophomores Jackson Gawarecki, Hunter Griffin, Nolan Hester, Josh Meiman, D.K. Schnieders, Paul Stamm and Wil Stamm; and freshman Nolan White.

"The goal this time of the year is always to be right at peak performance," Broughton said. "Training for the last couple of weeks has looked great for both groups, and I am very excited to see all of their hard work from the past few months pay off in a big way at the ASUN Championships."

THE HOPE
Bellarmine's men finished sixth of 12 at last season's ASUN Championship, while the Knights women finished eighth of 12.

Both teams are looking to improve their placement but know it's not a simple assignment. In addition to the wealth of talent in the ASUN, the league expanded this season to include Austin Peay and Queens.

"For the women, we are looking to place in the top 7 of the conference," Broughton said. "For the men, we are shooting for a top-5 team finish. Both are tall tasks as the ASUN is one of the deepest mid-major D1 conferences in the country with several regionally ranked teams on both sides, but if our teams execute their gameplans well, we will be in contention to finish where we want."

LAST TIME OUT
Bellarmine's final regular-season meet was Oct. 14 in the Bradley Pink Classic. The squads combined for five all-time top-50 performances. In the Red Races, the Knights women placed 21st of 38 while the men took 22nd of 35.

"The women were outstanding, having their best team race of the season. They did a great job of getting out more aggressive while still being able to move up through the field the entire race. They set themselves up for a big day at the ASUN Championships if they can continue that momentum," Broughton said. "The men, on the other hand, had an off day. We will be back at full strength for the ASUN Championships this week, and I am confident we will be able to learn from our mistakes last time out. While we are a very young team, we are still an experienced team, and they will be ready to roll when it counts."

LEVEL HEADS
Bellarmine is still in the four-year D1 transitional period, so the conference meet stands as the only postseason race the Knights are eligible to compete in.

For Bellarmine, it all comes down to this.

"It's important to not get too worked up for a championship race," Broughton said. "You obviously want to be on your 'A game,' but at the end of the day it is still just a race. We will keep our pre-race routine the same as we have all year, and our mental preparation will not change. While there might be a little extra pressure for a championship race, that isn't a bad thing. We've talked about pressure being a privilege, and if we can channel that pressure into positive energy, it will help us perform to the best of our capabilities come Saturday."

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