The Southern Oregon men's cross country team has a shot on Saturday to finish off an impressive jump to one of the elite cross country programs in the NAIA.

The top-ranked Raiders will look for the program's first-ever National Championship Saturday when they travel to Vancouver, Wash.

The SOU squad will consist of David Laney (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic), Dennis McCaffrey (Ashland, Ore./Ashland), Zach Elliott (Central Point, Ore./Crater), Ryan Sorenson (Sheridan, Wyo. /Sheridan), Ryan Ghelfi (Redding, Calif./Redding Adventist), Hector Aleman (Seaside, Calif./Seaside ) and Andrew Milne (Redding, Calif./Redding Adventist Academy), with Jerrod Puckett (Central Point, Ore./Crater) serving as the alternate.

“It's all about our depth,” SOU head coach Brent Ericksen said. “Our strength is our team. We don't have a drop off as a whole.”

This will be the second year the Raiders will look to make some noise at the Nationals. Last year, the Raiders made a huge splash by finishing a program-best fourth.

Only two of the seven from last year's team that competed at the Nationals (Laney and Ghelfi) are back this year and the team has made even bigger strides.

SOU knocked two-time defending National Champion Malone (Ohio) out of the top spot in the national poll to make even more school history as the highest ranking in program history.

“We've had some fun with it,” Ericksen said of the top ranking. “We know it's just a ranking and you have to prove it at Nationals. Malone is still the team to beat. They are the two-time National Champions and just won their conference, they've haven't done anything not to be No. 1.”

With Laney having one of the best seasons ever for a Raider, Ericksen says it may come down to McCaffrey's performance at the Nationals that will determine how the Raiders finish.

“Dennis has been battling an injury for awhile now,” Ericksen said. “He's getting better and he always shows up at the races. If he can do that again, we will be in the mix.”

As a whole, the Raiders are about as healthy as can be - after sickness and injuries took a pretty big swipe at the team.

On the women's side, freshman Seena Frantz (Ashland, Ore./Ashland) will be making her initial trip the Nationals. Frantz earned her trip to the Nationals after finishing fourth at the Cascade Conference Championships.

“She has a goal of Top 30 and being an All-American,” Ericksen said. “That's a pretty big goal. She's very capable of doing it and that would be a great accomplishment for a freshman.”