Aug. 28, 2007

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State men's and women's cross country teams begin their 2007 season by hosting the Utah State Open on Friday, Aug. 31 at 2 p.m. at the American West Heritage Center. Teams competing will be Idaho, Utah, Utah State, Utah Valley and Weber State. The men will start the competition with an eight kilometer race at 2 p.m., followed by the women who will run a five kilometer race beginning at 2:40 p.m.

"The good thing about this home meet early on is that it's a chance for the athletes to not have any pressure because they are running in a place that they're familiar with," said head coach Gregg Gensel. "It's more of a true test for them becacuse their only worried about running in the meet and in that sense I'm really excited to have that, but it also plays another role this year. Since we're hosting the WAC Championships here in October, it gives us a chance to run on the course that we'll be running on and we can see what we need to do to improve for those championships."

Both Utah State's men's and women's teams won the Western Athletic Conference Cross Country Championship in 2006 as Gensel was named the men's and women's WAC Coach of the Year. The Utah State men have won the WAC Championships the last two years.

Returning on the Aggies' men's team is senior Ben Kessen, who placed fourth at the 2006 WAC Championships, while junior Seth Wold was fifth. Other Aggies who placed at the conference championships a year ago include Andrew Niccoli (19th), Taylor Price (28th) and Taylor Mackay (46th). Kessen and Wold were honored as first-team all-WAC selections last season.

Top returners on the women's side include senior Stacie (Lifferth) Dorius who placed fifth individually at the 2006 WAC Championships, while fellow senior Amy Egan was seventh. Other returning Aggie women that competed in the 2006 WAC Championships include Caroline Berry (18th), April Rowlan (29th), Alexis Meyer (37th), Vanessa (Hawkins) Gledhill (49th) and Erin Stratton (60th). Egan and Dorius earned first-team all-WAC honors last season.

Utah State cross country continues action on Saturday, Sept. 15 as they head to Bozeman, Mont. to compete in the Montana State Invitational.