Sept. 27, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA currently has four men's and women's cross country programs ranked among the top 15 in their respective regions.

Leading the way for the men is nationally-ranked UTEP. The Miners moved up a slot to No. 6 in the most recent United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Top 25 poll. UTEP holds the No. 2 position in the Mountain Region, behind Colorado who's ranked No. 2 in the nation. The Miners are led by two-time defending C-USA individual champion Patrick Matai and two-time C-USA Cross Country Athlete of the Year Stephen Samoei. UTEP has established back-to-back C-USA championship records with meet best performances of 23 (2005) and 21 (2006) points since joining the league two-years ago.

The Tulsa men are ranked No. 8 in the Midwest Region, followed by No. 11 Rice and No. 12 Houston in the South Central Region.

The Rice women are receiving USTFCCCA top 25 votes and are ranked No. 3 in the South Central Region. Senior Marissa Daniels leads the Owls as she has won back-to-back individual invitational titles and earned this week's C-USA Athlete of the Week honor for her performance at the Texas A&M Invitational. She finished the 5,035-meter course in 17:19, a full 15 seconds ahead of the field of 99.

UAB, the 2006 C-USA champions, appears at No. 5 in the South Region, while Tulsa holds the No. 6 slot in the Midwest and UTEP is 12th in the Mountain Region.

The 2007 C-USA Cross Country Championships are slated for October 27 at the Santa Teresa Country Club in Santa Teresa, N.M. The one-day event will be hosted by UTEP.

USTFCCCA REGIONAL POLLS
WOMEN
MOUNTAIN
1. Colorado
2. BYU
3. Colorado State
4. Texas Tech
5. Northern Arizona
6. Utah State
7. Montana
8. Weber State
9. Nevada-Reno
10. New Mexico
11. Utah
12. UTEP
13. New Mexico State
14. Southern Utah
15. Wyoming

MIDWEST
1. Illinois
2. Minnesota
3. Iowa
4. Nebraska
5. Oklahoma State
6. Tulsa
7. Wichita State
8. Missouri
9. Missouri State
10. Oklahoma
11. Kansas State
12. Illinois State
13. Northern Iowa
14. Kansas
15. Iowa State

SOUTH CENTRAL
1. Arkansas
2. Baylor
3. Rice
4. Texas
5. Texas A&M
6. Lamar
7. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
8. UALR
9. Texas-Pan American
10. TCU
11. Texas-Arlington
12. Texas San Antonio
13. Stephen F. Austin
14. Texas State
15. Sam Houston State

SOUTH REGION
1. Florida State
2. Georgia
3. Tennessee
4. Florida
5. UAB
6. Vanderbilt
7. Georgia Tech
8. Auburn
9.Tennessee Chattanooga
10. Belmont
11. Alabama
12. Mississippi State
13. Samford
14. Georgia State
15. Florida Atlantic

MEN'S
MOUNTAIN
1. Colorado
2. UTEP
3. Weber State
4. Northern Arizona
5. BYU
6. Air Force
7. Montana
8. Utah State
9. Colorado State
10. Montana State
11. Texas Tech
12. Southern Utah
13. New Mexico
14. Wyoming
15. Idaho State

MIDWEST
1. Oklahoma State
2. Iowa
3. Minnesota
4. Kansas
5. Iowa
6. Missouri
7. Illinois
8. Tulsa
9. Oklahoma
10. Southern Illinois
11. Drake
12. Nebraska
13. Illinois State
14. Kansas State
15. Bradley

SOUTH CENTRAL
1. Arkansas
2. Texas
3. Texas A&M
4. Lamar
5. Baylor
6. Stephen F. Austin
7. LSU
8. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
9. North Texas
10. Texas-Arlington
11. Rice
12. Houston
13. TCU
14. McNeese State
15. UALR