Pitt’s cross country teams prepared this week for Friday’s Big East Championships in New… Pitt’s cross country teams prepared this week for Friday’s Big East Championships in New York and, according to Waddie Freeman, the placement of the women’s team will be largely dependent upon the eligibility of junior standout Maureen McCandless.

McCandless, who last year became the first Pitt cross country runner ever to compete in the NCAA Championships, suffered an injury to her knee earlier in the season.

Freeman described her condition as day-to-day.

Another injured Panther, Abby Zaylor, will be able to run on Friday.

Freeman expects Notre Dame to be the toughest team in the tournament in women’s competition and also acknowledged Providence, Georgetown and Boston College as tough competitors in the women’s race.

“For the women, the team to beat is definitely Notre Dame,” Freeman said. “They’re ranked third in the country.”

Freeman said the women’s team should place somewhere in the top half of the conference.

The top two teams in the conference advance to the regional tournament, along with the top six runners not on either of those two teams.

Last year, McCandless placed 24th in the conference with a time of 21 minutes, 34 seconds, to qualify.

Freeman added that Lauren Shaffer has a very good shot at doing well this weekend.

The last time Shaffer ran at Van Cortlandt Park, where the championship race will be held, her time was 22:51. But in her best 6-kilometer race of the season, she finished in 21:48.

In the men’s race, Freeman said Villanova is the favorite.

Pitt’s freshmen-filled men’s team traveled to New York earlier in the season to compete in the Iona Meet of Champions.

“That’s the reason we went there – to see the course,” Freeman said.

In the Panthers’ last meet of the regular season, freshmen captured four of the top five spots.

“All the freshmen for the men have a lot of momentum,” Freeman said.

Freshmen Eric Fleming, Andrew Tomaswick and Jesse Mang placed first, second and third, respectively, among the Panthers in their season closer.

In Pitt’s previous trip to Van Cortlandt, senior Mike Diano led the Panthers with a time of 27:19 in the 8K race.

In the last race of the season, Diano finished fourth, behind his three freshmen teammates.

Van Cortlandt’s course for the men includes the intimidating Cemetery Hill, an extended incline located in the latter half of the race.

“We’re going to taper down this week,” Freeman said. “We’ve been cutting down on the mileage.”

Should either team, or any individual runner, advance beyond the conference championships, the NCAA Regional Championships are set to take place in Lock Haven, Pa., on Nov. 15.