Nov. 17, 2007

The UTEP men's cross country team will be competing in the NCAA Championship Meet Monday in Terre Haute, Ind. The men's 10k race will begin at 10 a.m. and will be webcast live by CSTV.

The Miners are heading to the national meet on an automatic bid ticket for only the second time in 15 years after placing second at the NCAA Mountain Region Final.

Qualifying Formula

Collegiate teams automatically qualify for the NCAA Championships based on their team finish in their respective regional meets. The top two men's and women's teams from each of the nation's nine regions and the top four individuals from non-qualifying teams automatically advance to the NCAA Championships. Additionally, 13 at-large teams and two at-large individuals are added to the 31-team, 255-runner men's and women's fields.

First-ever Live Telecast

The NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Cross Country Championships will be telecast live for the first time ever. The telecast will run from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Mountain Standard Time and will also be webcast live by CSTV. The link to the live webcast will be available on the UTEP website, www.utepathletics.com.

Mountain Region

Senior Stephen Samoei led the Miners to a second-place team finish at the regional meet, placing second with a time of 29:54.5, 2.4 seconds behind Northern Arizona's Lopez Lomong. The then third-ranked Miners scored 56 points, finishing behind defending national champion Colorado (47 points).

Patrick Mutai finished two spots behind Samoei in 4th place with a time of 30:14.3. Samoei and Mutai were the highest finishing scoring pair.

The Miners bested the Pre-National Meet white race and overall champion Northern Arizona by 28 points. BYU finished in 4th place with 113 points followed by New Mexico in 5th place with 125 points.

Other finishers for the Miners included Nicodemus Ng'etich (15th, 30:55.8), Dominic Tanui (17th, 31:00.6), Japheth Ngo'ojoy (18th, 31:06.3) and Aggrey Chirchir (62nd, 32:58.5).

Samoei Strong All Season

Senior Stephen Samoei was named the Conference USA Cross Country Athlete of the Week four times this season, with the latest recognition coming after his second place finish at the NCAA Mountain Region Meet last week. Samoei also garnered honors after placing first at the Conference USA Championships in Santa Teresa, N.M., eighth at the Pre-Nationals Meet in Terre Haute, Ind., and first at the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M.

Samoei was the Conference USA Athlete of the Year in 2006.

Miners Ranked No. 4

The Miners are currently ranked fourth in the country, according to the latest poll released by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coach's Association. They were previously ranked third, before being bumped down by second-ranked Colorado after placing behind them in the Mountain Region Meet.

Three All-Americans

The Miners feature three All-America returnees. Senior Stephen Samoei is a three-time All-American, with his last recognition coming off a 13th place finish at the 2006 NCAA Championships. Patrick Mutai and Japheth Ng'ojoy are All-Americans from the 2005 season, having placed 20th and 22nd, respectively.

Record-breaking Conference Meet

The Miners set a meet record at the 2007 Conference USA Championships, scoring a perfect 15 points. They broke their own record for the second consecutive year, besting their 2006 record by seven points as they finished first through fifth.

Stephen Samoei took the men's individual title, finishing with a time of 24:40.01. He was followed by Patrick Mutai (25:02.3), Nicodemus Ng'etich (25:05.7), Japheth Ng'ojoy (25:07.3) and Dominic Tanui (25:14.3). Aggrey Chirchir finished in 19th place with a time of 27:07.5.

The Miners also set a meet record for points (19) at the Lobo Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., when they opened the 2007 season. They became the first men's team to win back-to-back Lobo Invitational titles as they placed five runners in the top six.

Colorado Competition

The Miners have faced defending national champion Colorado twice this season. They outscored the Buffaloes at the Pre-National Meet in Terre Haute, Ind. before losing to them at the Mountain Region Meet last week.

The Buffaloes return two All-America seniors - Stephen Pifer and Brent Vaughn - who were top-10 five finishers at nationals last year, placing eighth and tenth respectively.

Top-Notch Field

No. 3 Iona has ranked top-five all season and won the Northeast regional meet, finishing with only a 16-second spread between its first and fifth finishers. No. 5 Wisconsin has finished top two in the last five NCAA Championships - four of which were runner-up finishes and an NCAA win in 2005. The preseason team favorite is led by individual contender and junior Matt Withrow who was an All-American in the NCAA Championships in 2006 (24th) and 2005 (ninth) on the same Terre Haute course. No. 6 Northern Arizona is led by individual contender Lopez Lomong who was the NCAA outdoor 1,500m champion and indoor 3,000m champion in 2007 and fourth in the collegiate harrier finale in 2006.

No. 7 Arkansas has won 11 NCAA titles since 1986, but its last win came in 2000 with their only other runner-up finish since then in 2005 on the same course.