Nov. 19, 2007

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA had two cross country runners to earn All-America honors at the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships at the LaVern Gibson Championship Course Monday in Terre Haute, Ind.

UTEP's Stephen Samoei, the lone senior on the team, wraps up his career with the 23rd best time of 30:20.4. The three-time All-American was recognized four times this season as C-USA Athlete of the Week as he led the Miners to a 10th-place team finish at nationals.

Tulsa's Alex Becker paced the C-USA women with a 15th-place finish out of 253 runners. She finished the 6K race in a time of 20:35, becoming the program's first cross country All-American. Becker, a junior from Guelph, Ontario, Canada, is only the second Tulsa woman to qualify for the NCAA Championships twice. It has been a year of firsts for Tulsa's women's cross country team: first All-American and first conference champion, along with the best finish in school history at regionals.

SMU freshman Silje Fjortoft finished 49th in the women's race with a clocking of 21:11.00. Among freshmen, Fjortoft was third overall, trailing only Alexandra Kosinski of Oregon and Ilsa Paulson of Northern Arizona. The race wraps up a decorated season as she was named the NCAA South Central Region Athlete of the Year, C-USA Freshman of the Year and two-time C-USA Athlete of the Week.

UAB senior Elizabeth Ambrus finished 106th overall with a time of 21:35.0. Ambrus, an all-region and all-conference honoree this season, competed in her second national meet.

Texas Tech's Sally Kipyego won the individual title with a finishing time of 19:30.9. Stanford won the women's team championship.

The Rice women concluded it's most successful season in history by finishing 16th out of 31 teams.

Freshman Becky Wade paced the Owls by completing the 6K course in 21:23 and placing 53rd in the team placement. Senior Marissa Daniels was next for Rice, finishing in 21:27 for 62nd, while freshman Allison Pye was 71st in 21:33. Sophomores Nicole Mericle and Britany Williams closed out the scoring for Rice, Mericle was 91st in 21:44 and Williams was 136th in 22:08.

The Owls finished the day with 413 points and were just seven points out of 13th in a tight team finish.

In addition to the best national team finish in program history (the Owls were 15th of 16 in 1987, 19th of 22 in 1993 and 25th of 31 in 2005), Rice's remarkable season was highlighted by winning both the NCAA South Central Regional and the Conference USA championships. The Owls also won the Notre Dame Invitational in late September to launch themselves to 7th in the national poll.

After starting out ahead of the pack, the fourth-ranked UTEP men finished 10th at nationals. Individually, Stephen Samoei finished 23rd with a time of 30:20.4. Patrick Mutai came in behind Samoei in 48th place with a time of 30:41.4. Nicodemus Ng'etich came in 57th place and Japheth Ngo'joy in 63rd place. Rounding out the Miners was Aggrey Chirchir in 231st.

Samoei, the lone senior on the team, will finish his career as a three-time All-American (top 25 runners earn All-America accolades). He was recognized four times this season as C-USA Athlete of the Week as he led the Miners in all but one meet.

Tulsa's men finished in 29th place in its first ever time at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. Tulsa's top-finisher was junior John Beattie, who finished in 127th place in a time of 31:22. Beattie was followed closely by senior Joel Stansloski, who finished in 129th (31:22). Other finishers for the men were: sophomore Lewis Timmins in 145th (31:27), sophomore Kyle Dekker in 188th (31:51), sophomore Eric Harris in 189th (31:54), senior Jay Matlack in 229th (32:48), and senior Brett Turowski in 235th (33:00). The team was without its top-runner Edwin Henshaw, who missed the race because of a broken foot suffered at the NCAA Midwest Regional.

Oregon maintained its lead all the way through the race to win the men's national title. The Duck's Galen Rupp ran the last 100 meter stretch neck and neck with Liberty's Josh McDougal twenty seconds ahead of all other runners. McDougal broke out front with 10 meters to the line, crossing with a time of 29:22.4 for the individual title.