Aug. 27, 2008

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's and women's cross country teams will begin their 2008 season by hosting the Utah State Open on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 9 a.m. at the American West Heritage Center in Logan. The meet will include both the women's and men's teams from USU and Weber State along with Utah's women's team as well as Utah's men's Nordic ski team. The women will go first running a 5k at 9 a.m. and men will follow running four miles.

"I'm excited about the upcoming season and I think we have some good, quality runners on both the men's and women's teams," said veteran USU head coach Gregg Gensel. "At the beginning of every year we want to find out where our conditioning level is and this meet will definitely help us evaluate where we are in a competitive atmosphere."

The Aggies have eight women and 11 men returning, including six men and one woman who earned all-Western Athletic Conference honors last year. Alicia Holt was named all-WAC for USU's women while Jared Glenn, Hunter Nelson, Jason Holt, Steve Strickland, Chio Lopez and Nick Bollinder each earned all-WAC for the men.

At the 2007-08 NCAA Regionals both USU men's and women's teams finished eighth. The men were eight of 17 and the women eight of 15.

Utah State cross country continues action on Saturday, Sept. 20 as they head to Bozeman, Mont. to compete in the Montana State Invitational.