TOWSON, Md. - Towson hopes to reclaim the women's title that Johns Hopkins grabbed from the Tigers last year when all the local colleges gather Friday afternoon at Oregon Ridge Park for the 27^th running of the Baltimore Metro Collegiate Cross Country Meet.

The men's race is scheduled to start at 4:00 p.m. The women will follow at 4:45 p.m. Both races will be 5K's. The Blue Jays won both team titles last year.

Hopkins held off Towson 29-34 last fall, denying the Tigers a fifth straight Metro Meet title and their tenth overall. The Blue Jays' Laura Paulsen finished first in a time of 18:10. She'll be seeking an unprecedented fourth straight individual Metro championship.

Sophomores Liya Kasimova and Katie Ogden plus junior Lindsay Warfield are expected to show the way for the Tigers. Kasimova was sixth overall last year. Warfield has shown marked improvement in the pre-season and could be among the leaders. Ogden did not compete in the Metro last year. She was sidelined the entire fall with a stress fracture but has returned to full strength.

"Katie is healthy," said coach Roger Erricker. "It's more a confidence thing with her now but she'll be just fine."

Ogden was Towson's top finisher and ran second overall with an 18:38 in the 2007 Metro in her freshman year.

The Blue Jays' Steve Tobochnik is back to defend his Metro championship on the men's side.

Coppin State, Loyola, Goucher, McDaniel, Hood, Stevenson, Morgan, the Community College of Baltimore and Harford Community College will join the Tigers and Blue Jays. Towson is the only school in the group that does not field a men's team.