GAINESVILLE, Ga. – The University of North Georgia (UNG) is set to host the 2024 Peach Belt Conference Cross Country Championships at the UNG Cross Country Course in Gainesville, Ga. this Saturday. 

The men's championship race begins at 9 a.m. while the UNG women's cross country team will participate in the women's championship at 10:15 a.m. 

The UNG Cross Country course is located on the UNG Gainesville Campus at 3820 Mundy Mill Road in Oakwood, Ga.  The course is all grass and dirt and is considered "flat and fast." It features a stadium style-finish line and includes the G.W. Bailey Amphitheater for event operations. For collegiate competition, the course runs either 5,000 or 6,000 meters for women's races and 8,000 or 10,000 meters for men's races. The UNG Cross Country Course will host the PBC Championship for the second consecutive year and fourth time overall on Saturday. The track has also been the home of three different NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Championships.

Head coach Chris England and his team are looking for their first PBC Championship since the 2017 season. In the six years since the program's only conference title, UNG has finished Runner-Up behind Flagler all six years.

Good news came down the pipeline for the Nighthawks recently, though.

In their most recent race, the USC Upstate Invitational, UNG beat out Flagler with 263 points compared to the Saints' 285. UNG's average time of 19:14 in the 5K was seven seconds better than Flagler.

Perhaps most impressive in the Nighthawks performance was the fact that graduate student Claire Mills was not the team's highest scoring runner. Senior Anna Chasteen finished in 29th place with an 18:41.4 pace. Mills was behind Chasteen in 56th at 19:14.1

On Thursday, Mills was named as the 2024 PBC Runner of the Year for the second consecutive season. She became just the fourth runner in conference history to earn the award multiple times. The award is Mills' seventh postseason honor from the PBC in her career. Back in 2020, she earned the PBC Freshman of the Year Award. She's the fourth runner in conference history to earn both the Freshman of the Year and Runner of the Year honors in her career. She's the second competitor in PBC history to accomplish that feat with multiple Runner of the Year awards.

Across all 4K, 5K and 6K events, Mills holds four times in the top 5 of their respective events within the PBC this season. She is the only runner in the conference to accomplish that feat. No runner from another school holds more than two of the top 10 times in a competition of any distance this year. 

Should Mills finish in the top 15 at the PBC Championship this weekend, she will become the first ever five-time all-conference selection in PBC history.

Fans can follow along with live timing and the broadcast at the links listed above. All the action starts at 9 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, Oct. 25. Awards ceremonies for both men's and women's winners will take place after the completion of both races and will be streamed live on the PBC Sports Network.