Nov. 25, 2006

Irving, Texas - SMU junior Rachael Forish was named to the 2006 Division I Women's All-America Cross Country team, while UTEP's junior Stephen Samoei repeated as an All-American as announced by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Forish, a two-time All-C-USA cross country runner, placed 35th out of 253 participants at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships a week ago. The 2006 C-USA and South Central Region individual champion, Forish posted a NCAA time of 21.24.5 in the 6K race with a 3K split of 10:24.

Samoei, also a two-time All-C-USA cross country runner, placed 13th out of 250 runners, posting a 10k time of 31:15.5 on the muddy course. He was 20th at last year's championship. The finish by Samoei is the highest by a Miner since 1983 (Zak Barie-first; Gidamis Shahanga-eighth).

The NCAA Division I All-America Cross Country Team consists of the top 30 finishers at the NCAA Championships plus an equal number of U.S. athletes displaced by non-U.S. citizens in the top 30.