Dec. 5, 2006

IRVING, Texas - Irving, Texas - Stephen Samoei of UTEP and Rachael Forish of SMU have been named Conference USA Male and Female Cross Country Athletes of the Year as voted upon by C-USA head cross country coaches and released by the conference office Tuesday.

Samoei, a junior, becomes the first C-USA male cross country runner to repeat this honor since Amos Kipygeon of Tulane did so in 1997 and 1998. No student-athlete has captured this award three times. Tulane has had two athletes to win it three times, while UTEP and Cincinnati, a former C-USA member, has won it twice.

Samoei also became C-USA's first two-time cross country All-American last month when he finished 13th at the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Ind. He is the third All-American in C-USA history. Former C-USA member Charlotte had two All-Americans in 1999 (Kenneth Svendsen and Kelly Travis).

The two-time All-C-USA selection helped lead the Miners to their second-consecutive C-USA Championship title by scoring a meet-record 19 points. The Eldoret, Kenya, native also repeated his NCAA All-Mountain Regional honor after the team placed third and he finished fifth (30:17.2) in the 10K race. The two-time C-USA Athlete of the Week was named to the inaugural C-USA All-Academic squad as well.

Forish established herself as one of the top cross country runners in SMU history during the 2006 season. The junior became one of three cross country runners to earn All-American accolades for SMU. She finished 35th at the NCAA Championships with a 6K time of 21:24.5 to earn this honor. Prior to that meet, Forish captured Athlete of the Year honors at the South Central Regional after winning the 6K event in a personal-best time of 20:30.4. Katie Swords (1994, 1995) and Karin van Rooyen (2002, 2004) were two-time All-Americans for SMU.

She also became the first Mustang to win a Conference USA title and earn All-C-USA first team accolades by placing first in the league's championship meet, running the event in a time of 17:14.54. For the second-consecutive year, SMU placed third at the conference championship.

Tulane's Hanne Lyngstad is the only female runner to repeat C-USA Athlete of the Year honors. She did so during the 1999 and 1998 seasons. Lyngstad earned All-America honors in 1999.