Nov. 1, 2004

LOGAN, Utah - After claiming the Big West Conference individual title on Saturday, Utah State's Trevor Ball was named the league's Male Cross Country Athlete of the Year. The junior from Hyrum, Utah was also tabbed the Utah State Athlete of the Week it was announced on Monday.

Ball became the third Aggie to win the league's individual title as Mike Davidson claimed the 1994 race, while Mitch Zundel was the top finisher in 2002. Ball defeated teammate Clark Bryner, who was the runner-up, as both helped USU to a second-place team finish. The Aggies have now finished first or second in 11 of the last 13 league championships.

Ball missed the first of the season due to injury. He then finished 56th overall at the prestigious Griak Invitational, his first meet of the season. At the NCAA Pre-Nationals he led the Aggies to a 14th-place finish by finishing 22nd overall.

The cross country team will head to Fort Collins, Colo. to participate in the NCAA Regionals on Saturday, Nov. 13

Nominees from other sports for the USU Athlete of the Week:

Women's Cross Country -- Ashley Johnson... Finished fifth at the Big West Championships in leading the Aggies. Her time of 20:56 was just 21 seconds out of first place. The USU women finished third.

Football -- Joe Lindsay... The safety recorded a team-high tying best seven tackles, while also forcing two fumbles and breaking up one pass in USU's 21-0 loss at Middle Tennessee.

Soccer -- Charlsie Harris... The junior forward scored Utah State's only goal in a 2-1 loss to UC Santa Barbara on Sunday. The goal was Harris' sixth on the year and moved her into sixth place on the USU career points list (21). The Aggies also dropped their match to Cal Poly on Friday, 3-1.

Volleyball -- Ingrid Roth... The junior middle blocker hit a team-high .360 with 13 kills and two blocks in Utah State's four-game loss to UC Irvine. Roth also had nine kills and four blocks in USU's three-game loss to Long Beach State. For the week, Roth hit .208 and averaged 3.14 kills and 0.86 blocks per game.

2004-05 Utah State Athlete of the Week Winners

Sept. 6 - David Danley, Men's Cross Country
Sept. 13 - Lindsay Lauro, Soccer
Sept. 20 - Kindy Peterson, Volleyball
Sept. 27 - Robert Watts, Football
Oct. 4 - Megan Mills, Soccer
Oct. 11 - Nicole Gooch, Soccer
Oct. 18 - Dana Peart, Soccer
Oct. 25 - Amanda Fahnestock, Volleyball
Nov. 1 - Trevor Ball, Cross Country