<> WACO, Texas - Both Baylor's men's and women's cross country teams will be in action at the 26th-annual Chile Pepper Festival on Saturday at Agri Park in Fayetteville, Ark.

On the men's side, the Bears will have a contingent of 11 runners competing in the Chile Pepper Festival's 8K race at 9:45 a.m. Baylor runners for this weekend include Eric Anderson, Brent Aydon, Josh Bethany, Matt Galvin, Derwin Graham, Chris McElroy, Matthew Parham, Tristan Pelto, Kyle Scanlan, Jonathan Tijerina and Jordan West. This will be BU's first race of the season at the 8,000-meter distance.

"Our guys are ready to race," assistant coach Jon Capron said. "They have been training really well and I am excited to see them race with fresh legs, after having last week off. It will help us down the road to finally get an 8K race and we will get to see where we are against some teams from our conference and region."

Before taking last weekend off from competition, the men placed fifth at the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 20. Anderson, a freshman, has finished as the top runner in all three meets this season, while Scanlan and Tijerina have been scoring runners for the Bears at each event.

A total of 12 members of Baylor's women's team, who did not compete last weekend at the Roy Griak Invitational, will be in action for the 5K race at 10:20 a.m. Haleigh Blackwell, Rachel Covey, Moriah Dadson, Sarah Guhl, Jenna Henrich, Lauren Hierholzer, Aubree Miller, Erika Overbeck, Lexi Reamer, Gretta Smith, Lauren Stevens and Helena Van Loan are scheduled to run for the Lady Bears.

"On the women's side, these runners are fighting hard to be a part of the team we take to conference," Capron said. "I know they are ready to run fast and compete well."

Baylor's top runners on the women's side took fifth at the Roy Griak Invitational last weekend and garnered a national ranking of No. 24 for the first time since 2009.

After this weekend, the men and women will compete at the HBU Invitational in Houston on Friday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m.

For updates on Baylor's cross country team, follow @BaylorTrack on Twitter.