Oct. 28, 2004

LOGAN, Utah - The Utah State University cross country teams will compete at the Big West Conference Championships Saturday Oct. 30, at the UC-Riverside Agriculture Operations Course in Riverside, Calif. The women will run a six-kilometer race at 9 a.m. (Mountain), while the men will follow with an eight-kilometer race at 10 a.m. (Mountain).

At last year's championships the men finished fifth, marking only the second time in the last 12 years out of the top two spots. Cal Poly ran away with the championship by finishing 1-2-3.

Current Aggies who competed in last year's league championships include David Danley (ninth), Clark Bryner (16th) and Trevor Ball (39th).

Danley, a senior from Heber City, Utah, was USU,s top runner in the first three meets finishing first at the Idaho State Invitational, fourth at the BYU Autumn Classic and 17th at the Griak Invitational. Ball, a junior from Hyrum, Utah, who was injured earlier in the season, ran to a 22nd-place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals to lead the Aggies in their last race. With a time of 24:27, Ball was the top finisher out of four Big West teams.

At Pre-Nationals USU was second out of Big West teams, beating UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside but losing to nationally ranked Cal Poly. With Cal Poly returning Ryan Moorcroft, who finished second, the Mustangs were picked unanimously by the Big West coaches at the beginning of the season to take first. UC Santa Barbara was second and Utah State was slated to take third.

The USU women's team finished second at last year's Big West Championship with 66 points. This was the women's best finish since 1998.

UC Santa Barbara finished first by taking the top four spots individually and ending with 27 points. With UC Santa Barbara returning last year's Big West Championships top four finishers, the nationally ranked Gauchos were picked to finish first in the Big West at the beginning of the season, with Idaho slated to finish second and USU picked to finish fifth.

Current Aggies who competed at last year's Big West Championships are Lida Ripplinger (sixth), Ashley Johnson (eighth) and Tiffany Strickland (29th). Johnson, a sophomore from Hyrum, Utah, and Ripplinger, a senior from Salt Lake City, Utah, have been USU's top female runners this season. Last year Johnson was one of the nation's top freshman runners and is USU,s only returning runner that competed at Nationals. Ripplinger finished eighth at the BYU Autumn Classic and 67th at the Griak Invitational leading USU in both races.

The USU men won Big West Cross Country team titles in 1992, 1993, 1994, and 2002 and have finished first or second in 10 of the last 12 years (fourth in 1999 and fifth in 2003). USU women won the league title in 1998.