Oct. 27, 2006

GREENVILLE, N.C.- The 2006 Conference USA Cross Country Championships will be held in Greenville, N.C., and hosted by East Carolina at Lake Kristi on Saturday, Oct. 28. The championships will feature the women's 5K race at 10:30 a.m. (ET), to be followed by the men's 8K race at 11:30 a.m. (ET). Nine runners will compete from each men's and women's team.

Leading the Thundering Herd men's squad will be Jon Nelson. Nelson have been a strong runner all season, capturing a fifth place finish at the Queen City Invitational and 17th at the EKU Open. In 2005, Nelson was Marshall's best male runner in the event when he captured 19th place.

Marian Brooks will lead the women's team, as she has been the top Marshall finisher in every race thus far. Brooks ran for two second place finishes and one fifth place finish this season. Last year Brooks lead the team with a 22nd place finish in the event.

Marshall finished 11th on the women's side and sixth on the men's in last year's event.

The first 15 men and women to cross the finish line at the conference championships will be named to the C-USA All-Conference first (5), second (5) and third (5) teams. East Carolina, Houston, Marshall, Memphis, Rice, Tulsa, UCF and UTEP each have a men's and women's team. SMU, Southern Miss Tulane and UAB have women's teams only.

The 2006 C-USA cross country championship is shaping up to be one of the strongest in recent years as four men's and four women's teams are ranked in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association polls.

On the men's side, UTEP holds a No. 4 national ranking and a No. 1 Mountain Region ranking. The Miners have won all four meets they have competed in this season. In the South Central Region, Rice is currently ranked sixth and Houston 12th, while followed by Tulsa's 10th place ranking in the Midwest.

The Rice women rank the highest in the conference as the Owls are fourth in the USTRCCCA South Central Region poll, followed by SMU's seventh place ranking in the same region. UAB appears at No. 8 in the South Region and Tulsa is No. 9 in the Midwest Region. Earlier in the season UAB was receiving top 25 votes but currently no C-USA women's cross country team appears among the national Top 25.

The 2005 titles went to two new members of C-USA as UTEP captured the men's crown and Rice won the women's.