Nov. 21, 2005

The eighth-ranked UTEP men's cross country team placed 14th at the NCAA Championship, while the 27th-ranked Rice women took 25th on Monday at the Wabash Valley Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Ind. Both squads, who were the respective C-USA Champions, were the only league teams competing in the championship. Wisconsin won the men's team title with a pair of Top Five finishers, while Stanford placed three runners in the Top 20 to win the women's crown.

The Miners were paced by sophomore Stephen Samoei, who turned in a time of 30:07.50 on the 10K course to finish 20th. He was followed closely by teammate Japheth Ng'ojoy, who was 22nd in 30:08.00.

UAB junior Elizabeth Ambrus, the women's individual champion at the C-USA championship, was the top female finisher among the league's runners as she placed 57th in a career-best time of 20:45.10 on the 6K course. Sophomores Marissa Daniels and Kate Gorry led the Owls to the 25th-place team finish with 77th and 107th-place finishes, respectively.

SMU sophomore Rachael Forish, who earned an individual bid to the championship along with Ambrus, placed 104th in 21.12.00. Ambrus, Forish, Daniels and Gorry were each members of the All-C-USA first team this season.

Houston senior Sesar Figueroa was the lone C-USA male competing as an individual at the championship. He placed 188th in 31:47.40.

CONFERENCE USA FEMALE COMPETITORS - OVERALL FINISH

Finish	Name		School	Time (6K)

57	Elizabeth Ambrus	UAB	20:45.1
77	Marissa Daniels	Rice	20:56.1
104	Rachael Forish	SMU	21:12.0
107	Kate Gorry	Rice	21:12.4
136	Callie Wells	Rice	21:25.3
212	Lee Garcia	Rice	22:14.8
223	Sarah Yoder	Rice	22:27.8
234	Laura Kelley	Rice	22:47.4
236	Anna Reeve	Rice	22:50.5

CONFERNCE USA MALE COMPETITORS - OVERALL FINISH

Finish	Name		School	Time (10K)

20	Stephen Samoei	UTEP	30:07.5
22	Japheth Ng'ojoy	UTEP	30:08.0
118	Mircea Bogdan	UTEP	31:08.2
126	Patrick Mutai	UTEP	31:12.8
188	Sesar Figueroa	Houston	31:47.4
236	Dominic Tanui	UTEP	32:33.6
241	Joe Munoz       UTEP	32:51.9