Dec. 6, 2005

UTEP sophomore Stephen Samoei was named the Conference USA Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year earning the league's top honor in voting submitted by the C-USA men's cross country coaches.

Samoei helped lead the Miners to the C-USA Championship and their first appearance at the NCAA Championship in 13 years after UTEP placed second at the competitive NCAA Mountain Regional. The Eldoret, Kenya native was a first-team All-C-USA honoree, a NCAA All-Mountain Region performer and capped off his season by earning All-America honors at nationals.

Samoei placed fourth at the league championship, fourth at the NCAA Mountain Regional and 20th at the NCAA Championship. The Miners placed 14th in the team standings at nationals this year -their first as a C-USA member.