Sept. 1, 2010

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA 2010 Cross Country season gets underway on Friday, Sept. 3, with nine men's and women's teams competing. Eight additional clubs will see action on Saturday at various Invitationals.

C-USA Cross Country Notebook_1

Houston and Tulsa will serve as hosts to their annual home meets this opening weekend. The Cougars and Rice will compete in the Johnny Morriss Invitational, whereas Tulsa will host the Hurricane Invitational at Mohawk Park.

Highlighting opening weekend action are the women of UTEP, SMU and Rice. The Miners are ranked 19th in the United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Preseason Poll, followed by SMU at No. 22 and Rice at No. 28. UTEP also ranks fourth in the Mountain Region, while SMU and Rice hold the top two spots in the South Central Region.

Highlighting the field of returnees for the women are Risper Kimaiyo of UTEP and SMU's Silje Fjortoft.

Kimaiyo won 2009 C-USA individual medalist honors with a league-best time of 17:46.3. She went on to place ninth at the NCAA Championships and earned All-America honors. The UTEP women return all but one runner from last year's team that finished 22nd at nationals and second in the league.

Fjortoft led the Mustangs to the 2009 team title. Five SMU runners clocked Top 10 finishes, including Fjortoft's second-place finish. The senior from Orsta, Norway has the opportunity to become the first C-USA cross country runner to ever earn four-consecutive All-C-USA first team honors if she places among the top seven at the 2010 C-USA Championships in Tulsa, Okla.

Lewis Timmins of Tulsa and Elkana Rotich of UTEP are two of the top returning runners for the men.

UTEP head coach Paul Ereng returns five of his top seven runners from a squad that finished second at the C-USA Championships a year ago. Rotich was named C-USA Freshman of the Year after he finished fourth at the conference meet. Placing sixth and eighth, respectively, for the Miners were senior Robert Menjo and sophomore Justice Chirchir. The men enter the 2010 season ranked fifth in the Mountain Region. The Miners were one of 10 programs that received votes for USTFCCCA Top 30 Preseason honors.

Tulsa won the 2009 conference team title and returns all but two runners. However, those two letterwinners lost were the Golden Hurricane leaders - John Beattie and Kyle Dekker.

Tulsa head coach Steve Gulley expects his current seniors Mark Davis and Timmins to lead a squad that sports 16 underclassmen. Timmins is the team's top returner as he earned All-C-USA first team honors with a third-place finish at the conference meet, followed by Davis' 13th-place mark that earned him second-team accolades. The Golden Hurricane enters the season ranked sixth in the Midwest Region.

THIS WEEK'S MEETS
Fri., Sept. 3
East Carolina at Covered Bridge Open | Boone, N.C.
Houston hosts Johnny Morriss Invitational | Houston, Texas
Rice(M) at Johnny Morriss Invitational | Houston, Texas
Memphis at Belmont/Vanderbilt Opener | Nashville, Tenn.
SMU at Baylor Twilight | Waco, Texas
Southern Miss hosts USM Invitational | Hattiesburg, Miss.

Sat., Sept. 4
Marshall at EKU/Marshall Relay | Richmond, Ky.
Tulane at Georgia Invitational | Bishop, Ga.
Tulsa hosts Hurricane Invitational | Tulsa, Okla.
UTEP at Lobo Invitational | Albuquerque, N.M.

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