Oct. 21, 2004

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State's Trevor Ball was named the Big West Cross Country Athlete of the Week for his efforts at the Pre-Nationals meet this past weekend it was announced by the Conference office on Wednesday.

Ball, a junior from Hyrum, Utah, finished 22nd at the meet which featured eight nationally-ranked teams. Ball covered the 8,000-meter course in 24:27, just 33 seconds out of first place.

The race was just the second of the season for Ball, who had been injured and sick early in the Aggies' season. Ball's only other race was his 56th place finish at the Griak Invitational in Minneapolis on Sept. 26.

"The thing about Trevor is that he is steadily getting better and better," Gensel said. "This was just his second race of the year. He ran great. He ran real strong in the last half of the race."

The Aggie men placed 14th as a team. They will continue their season at the Big West Championship in Riverside, Calif. on Oct. 30.

Lauren Christman of UC Santa Barbara was named the female athlete of the week.