CANYON. Texas – The #5 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M are eyeing a podium finish at the 2024 NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships at the Arcade Creek Cross Country Course in Sacramento, California.
 
The day will open with the men's 10,000-meter race at 12 p.m. CT. At 1:15 p.m. CT the women will race 6,000 meter course. There will be free live video of Saturday's race offered at www.ncca.com/live. There will also be free live results of both races.
 
The Buffs are participating in the NCAA Championships for the 11^th time (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023). WT registered a fourth-place finish at last year's championships in Joplin, Missouri for the best team finish in program history.
 
William Amponsah looks to defend his individual National Championship as the Ghana product won last year's event with a time of 29:04.3.
 
WT earned an automatic bid into national following a third place finish at the South Central Regional Championships back on November 9^th in Denver. Amponsah paced the Buffs with a time of 31:16.93 to finish second followed by Harry Louradour in ninth place with a time of 31:42.54.
 
The overall guest list for the weekend features 34 teams for the men and 34 for the women with each field touting well over 250 runners. Of those 68 programs, 16 are from the South Central Region which includes the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and the Lone Star Conference. 
 
On the men's side, the South Central Region will be represented by Adams State, Colorado Christian, Mines, UCCS, CSU Pueblo, West Texas A&M, and Western Colorado. Individuals from New Mexico Highlands, Fort Lewis, Dallas Baptist, and MSU Denver also qualified for the race.
 
The lineup for the Buffs will be identical to the South Central Regional Championships as the seven runners toeing the start line are Saturday are: William Amponsah, Matthys Bourse, Dennis Cheruiyot, Adrian Legarreta, Harry Louradour, Prince Mcabelo and Enrico Oddone.
 
The team with the lowest combined score from its top-five runners will be crowned NCAA National Champion on the men's and women's side. Additionally, individual finishers 1-40 in each race will earn USTFCCCA All-America distinction. All other superlative awards are voted on by the coaches after the race.