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DETROIT -- The summer training and the season-long miles and races have built the Titans up for the postseason as the 2010 cross country Horizon League Championships is set to be held this Saturday at Montrose Beach on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Loyola will serve as the host for the championships with the women's 5k to start at noon, with the men's race to follow at 1:00 p.m.

The women will look to move up from last year's sixth place finish at the event. Last year, the Titans turned in a fine performance totaling 146 points, just three out of fifth place and 52 points separating them from third-place Milwaukee.

This year's team has had to deal with a few injuries, but with a mix of young and veteran runners leading the way, Detroit hopes the tough training throughout the year will pay off for the harriers. Detroit will have a senior in Megan Miller (Zanesville, OH/Zanesville) and a junior in Kirstin Mooney (Stirling, ON/St. Theresa Catholic), but the squad will rely on the talented sophomore and freshmen class.

Sophomore Alexandria Vintevoghel (Casco, MI/Marine City) was the top finisher in all six races on the season and challenged for All-League honors a year ago taking 25th in the championships. Another sophomore, Katrina Oberski (Clyde, MI/Port Huron) has already established a new personal record, while rookies Rachel Hofsess (Milford, MI/Milford) and Victoria Eger (Buchanan, MI/Buchanan) have improved throughout the season.

The women have some history at the course at Montrose Beach as that is where Kim Hemstreet won her title in 2002. UDM has won a pair of league championships (1986, 1987) and finished in a tie for second in 1997. Along with Hemstreet, two other Titan runners have placed first in Bonnie (Fitzpatrick) Wood (1987) and Angie Lefere (1997).

For the men, an experienced team will vie to place among the top in the league as seniors Ryan Ayala (Coopersville, MI/Coopersville), Brian Greenhoe (Sand Lake, MI/Grant), Alex Harris (Huntington Woods, MI/Shrine), Pat Liederbach (Petoskey, MI/Petoskey), Kevin Smalley (Gladwin, MI/Gladwin) and Kevin Wozniak (Dearborn, MI/Edsel Ford), look to end their HL careers on a high note. That group has seen the red, white and blue place as high as fourth in the last three years with the Titans taking a close fifth place last year with 126 points, 28 out of fourth and 33 behind third.

Liederbach has placed in the top 10 the past three season, including a seventh-place effort in 2007 that landed him on the All-Horizon League first team. He will look to become just the second Titan in school history to earn All-Conference honors four times joining Chris McPhee, who accomplished the feat from 1997-2001.

Harris has been right there in the top three all year and a healthy Edwin Gay (Grosse Pointe, MI/GP South), a sophomore, has provided the Titans with another runner threat to the top 20.

Detroit will also be in search of its first individual winner. Ken Dubois, a 2010 Titan Hall of Fame inductee, holds the highest finish at the event taking second in 1987. The Titans have also never won the men's championship, but have three runner-up finishes to their credit in 1980, 1985, and '86, with the latter two teams led by current Titan head coach Guy Murray.

The entire men's field will be looking to top Butler from winning its 13th-straight title.