The Bulldogs will test themselves against the nation's best at the 2023 NCAA Cross Country Championships Saturday morning.
 
The Butler men, ranked a season-high of No. 8 in this week's USTFCCCA national poll, are one of 31 teams that will converge on the Panorama Farms Cross Country Course in Earlysville, Va. The University of Virginia will serve as host. The Butler men ran one of their best races of the 2023 season on the Panorama Farms course in September, taking eighth at the Virginia Invitational against an elite national field.
 
This is Butler's fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championships. The Bulldogs have also captured three of the last four BIG EAST men's championships, including most recently Oct. 28.

The Butler men punched their ticket to the NCAA Championships by winning the 2023 Great Lakes Regional Nov. 10. It marked the first Great Lakes regional championship in program history.

Butler placed all five of its scorers among the Top 15 at the regional. Florian Le Pallec was the first Bulldog to cross the line, finishing fourth. He was followed closely by teammates William Zegarski (fifth), Matthew Forrester (ninth), Will Minnette (tenth), and Jesse Hamlin (15^th). That fivesome each earned All-Great Lakes Region honors.

That five will be joined in the line-up by David Slapak and Jack McMahon.

In recent seasons, the Butler men have finished 21^st (2022), 28^th (2021), and 13^th (spring 2021) at the national meet.
 
The NCAA field will include a total of 31 teams plus qualifying individuals from each of the nine regions.
 
Butler will have one of those qualifying individuals in the women's field in Elsa Rusthoven. She led the Butler women at the regional in Wisconsin, picking up a 15^th-place finish individually. Rusthoven covered the 6k course in 20:50.7 to earn All-Region honors. She earned one of four individual berths in the NCAA Championships from the Great Lakes region in addition to qualifying teams in Notre Dame, Wisconsin and Michigan State.
 
Rusthoven continues a run of strong representation for the Bulldogs in recent years. Mia Beckham earned an individual spot in the 2022 field, while the Butler women placed 29^th as a team in 2021.
 
Live championship coverage Saturday will be broadcast on ESPNU beginning at 9:30 a.m. The women's 6k race featuring Rusthoven will begin at 10:20 a.m., and the men's 10k race will start at 11:10 a.m.