The NCAA Division III men's cross country championships will feature the greatest program in NCAA history going for their astounding 18th national title, as well as a thrilling individual battle with no clear favorite. All eyes will be on the mighty North Central College as they look to extend history on Saturday in Elsah, Illinois, but the wide-open individual race is arguably just as compelling. 

FloTrack will be your exclusive home to all the DIII action, with the live stream beginning Saturday at 10:30 AM CT.

Below, we break down the men's team favorites.

No. 1 North Central

Region: 1st at Midwest
Conference: 1st at CCIW
2016 NCAAs: 1st

How They Will Win: The 17-time NCAA champions don't need a perfect day to win nationals for the second straight season. Heck, they could probably survive off a purely mediocre performance; North Central won NCAAs by a record 144 points last November and the current group might be even better. Junior Dhruvil Patel and freshman Jared Borowsky are each individual contenders, and NCC has two more returning All-Americans. The Cardinals destroyed third-ranked UW La Crosse 34-81 at regionals, essentially putting to rest any notion of an upset at nationals.

Barring a meltdown of epic proportions, North Central will be the 2017 NCAA DIII champion.

No. 2 Haverford

Region: 1st at Mideast
Conference: 1st at Centennial
2016 NCAAs: 18th

How They Will Win: The Fords from Haverford will need North Central to perform poorly to have any shot at the title. While this team hasn't faced NCC in 2017, it's tough to imagine a squad that was only 18th at NCAAs last fall defeating the super juggernaut if the Cardinals run well. 

That said, this team is drastically improved from a year ago and should net their first podium finish since 2012. The trio of Graham Peet, Henry Woods, and Ryan Herlihy finished one-two-three at both conference and regionals, and the Fords have been crushing their opponents all season long. Only Woods was an All-American last season, as Herlihy was 97th and Peet 214th, but all three could find themselves in the top 20 on Saturday. If that happens, second place will likely be theirs.

No. 3 UW La Crosse

Region: 2nd at Midwest
Conference: 1st at WIAC
2016 NCAAs: 6th

How They Will Win: Any shot that UW La Crosse had at the title seemingly went by the wayside last Saturday as they were soundly defeated by North Central at regionals. The Eagles put their entire top five inside the top 25 and still lost by 47 points. Like Haverford, UWL will need a lot of help to topple NCC.

But UW La Crosse should be better than their sixth-place NCAA finish from 2016. Sophomore Josh Schraeder was the team's fifth man at nationals last year, but he has been in the top two all season and was the Eagles' No. 1 man at regionals. Just 36th at the same meet in 2016, Schraeder was seventh last weekend. Expect him to finish way higher than his 119th a year ago. The same goes for junior Thomas Schultz, who just 67th at nationals in 2016 but is capable of much more. Schultz has been top 10 at regionals the last two years.

UWL may not have the firepower to push North Central, but the Eagles have more than enough depth to land on the podium. La Crosse took a beating at the hands of the defending champs, but that's the closest a DIII team has gotten to North Central all season.

The best teams in the country race for the #D3XC title on Saturday! pic.twitter.com/ca848UnHYL

— FloTrack (@FloTrack) November 16, 2017

No. 4 Pomona-Pitzer

Region: 1st at West
Conference: 1st at SCIAC
2016 NCAAs: 17th

How They Will Make The Podium: After finishing 17th at NCAAs last year, Pomona-Pitzer has been greatly improved in 2017. The Sagehens had only two men in the top 15 at the 2016 West regional; last Saturday PPC had all five of their scorers within that threshold. With conference and regional champ Andy Reischling leading the way, Pomona-Pitzer will finish on the podium if they can emulate the pack running that saw them have a 44-second spread at regionals.

The Sagehens were third in the highly competitive Cowbell XC Invite, behind only North Central and SUNY Geneseo. With evidence that PPC is much better than they were in mid-October, a top-four finish seems likely at nationals.

No. 5 SUNY Geneseo

Region: 1st at Atlantic
Conference: 1st at SUNYAC
2016 NCAAs: 2nd

How They Will Make The Podium: Geneseo was runner-up at nationals last fall and took second to NCC at the midseason Cowbell Invite. The Knights have the NCAA's top returner and an individual favorite in Isaac Garcia-Cassani and had three men total that finished in the top 10 at regionals. If the trio of Garcia-Cassani, Alex Burks, and Matt Jorgenson runs well on Saturday, SUNY Geneseo has great podium chances.

The issue with this team may be their depth: the Knights' spread last weekend was over a minute. That spread won't be as bad at NCAAs in a much deeper field, but with the teams above them much improved from last season, Geneseo can't afford to have their back end scorers any farther down than that.

Don't forget to tune in live to FloTrack on Saturday to watch the DIII battle.