Oct. 15, 2003

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State's cross country teams will get the opportunity to run at the NCAA Pre-National meet in Waterloo, Iowa on Saturday, Oct. 18. The meet is a preview of the national championship race which will take place at the same venue Nov. 4.

Utah State has not run since Sept. 27 when both the men and women competed at the University of Minnesota's Griak Invitational. The Aggie men were 20th out of 30 teams, while the women were 20th out of 26.

The Pre-National meet will take place at the Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course in Waterloo, Iowa. The men's and women's races are split into two divisions each and USU's men will run in the Gold Race with 35 other teams, while the USU women will run in their version of the Gold Race as well with 34 other teams.

The men's course is 8,000 meters while the women will cover 6,000 meters. The men start at 10:40 a.m. mountain time with the women slated to start at 11:55 a.m. on Saturday.

USU's men's team will include Trevor Ball, Clark Bryner, David Danley, Jared Glenn, Ryan Griffith, Mike Nielson and Heath Wing. The women's lineup includes Carol Cabanillas, Christi Howell, Ashley Johnson, Rebekah Meier, Lida Riplinger, and Tiffany Strickland.

Johnson, a freshman from Hyrum, Utah, was USU's leader in its first two meets this season finishing second at the Idaho State Invitational and placing eighth at the BYU Autumn Classic. Cabanillas, a senior from Salt Lake City, Utah, was USU's leader at the Griak Invitational, finishing 92nd overall.

On the men's side Nielson, a senior from Bellevue, Wash. has led the Aggies in two meets winning the ISU race and finishing eighth at the Griak. He earned Big West Conference athlete of the week honors for his efforts in those two races.

While Nielson sat out the BYU meet with a slight injury, Trevor Ball stepped up and finished 14th to lead USU.