While the men's team battle shouldn't be all that dramatic, the opposite could be true on the DIII women's side. Defending champion Johns Hopkins and second-ranked MIT were separated by just two points the last time they met on the Elsah, Illinois, championship course, and that's just one of the top matchups you can expect to see. Every place will matter today, and you can catch it all live on FloTrack at 10:30 AM CT. Check out our breakdown of the women's teams to watch.

No. 1 Johns Hopkins

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

How They Will Win:
The Hopkins women have won four of the last five DIII titles and are now eyeing a fifth as they are finally set to run at full strength on Saturday. The Blue Jays were without top runner Tasha Freed at conference and regionals, but with her back in the fold, JHU is the favorite.

Before Freed missed a few races, All-American Felicia Koerner was on the shelf during the middle parts of the season, which made the defending champions look quite vulnerable. Without Koerner at the Cowbell Invite, Hopkins nearly lost to second-ranked MIT. Fortunately, both ladies will be back today and are expected to be at full strength. Koerner missed two months of the season, but still finished sixth at regionals last Saturday; that showed she was good to go for nationals.

JHU will get some heat from MIT on Saturday, but now that all of the Blue Jays are healthy, they likely have the depth to hold them off.

No. 2 MIT

Region: 1st at New England
Conference: 1st at NEWMAC
2016 NCAAs: 5th

How They Will Win:
MIT surely received a jolt of confidence on October 14 when they lost to Johns Hopkins by just two points. After all, the Engineers put their entire top seven in front of JHU's fifth runner and showed enough depth to win an NCAA title. Now, Hopkins wasn't running entirely at full strength, but the point had been made-- MIT had the low sticks and solid supporting cast to become national champions. With just one All-American and four scorers outside the top 60 last season, the squad has improved greatly in 2017 and should have multiple top-40 finishers on Saturday.

No. 3 SUNY Geneseo

Region: 1st at Atlantic
Conference: 1st at SUNYAC
2016 NCAAs: 3rd

How They Will Win:
The Knights were well behind Johns Hopkins and MIT when they met earlier this season, but we expect SUNY Geneseo to perform much better on Saturday. Their top four all finished inside the top 10 in the Atlantic region, and the entire team has shown drastic improvements from the year before. With only two returners from last year's nationals team, SUNY Geneseo certainly lacks in the experience department, but this squad should nonetheless nab several All-American finishes. That's usually a recipe for the podium.

No. 4 UW-Eau Claire

Region: 1st at Midwest
Conference: 1st at WIAC
2016 NCAAs: Did not qualify

How They Will Make The Podium:
One of the most surprising teams in DIII, UW-Eau Claire is a legitimate podium threat just a year after missing out on nationals. The Blugolds convincingly beat seventh-ranked Washington U. at the Midwest regional, and they flashed the sort of depth that could make them a top four team on Saturday--Eau Claire had four women in the top 15 at regionals.

This team didn't perform well at the DIII Pre-National meet in October-- they were just ninth there--but beating Wash U. last weekend proved they were an entirely different team than what they showed in October.

No. 5 Tufts

Region: 2nd at New England
Conference: 3rd at NESCAC
2016 NCAAs: 8th

How They Will Make The Podium:
The Tufts women ran their best race of the year last Saturday at the New England regional to finish second behind MIT. Tufts defeated fellow top-15 schools Williams and Middlebury, putting three women inside the top 15 in one of the deepest regions in the country. No. 1-ranked runner Brittany Bowman finished 18th at NCAAs last year and looks like a guaranteed low stick; if juniors Natalie Bettez and Olivia Barnett can also finish with All-American honors, Tufts isn't missing the podium.

Of course, easier said than done. Bettez was only 115th last fall, and Barnett has never run at NCAAs before. This seems like a team with both an incredibly high ceiling and low floor. Cross country is fun like that.