Nov. 10, 2006

WACO, Texas - After a surprisingly strong finish at the conference meet, UT Arlington men's cross country team returns to action Saturday when they compete at the 2006 NCAA South Central Regional. The meet, held at the Cottonwood Creek Golf Course, will begin at 10:00 a.m. with the women's 6,000-meter race and will conclude with the men's 10,000-meter race at 11:15 a.m.

The top 10 individuals advance to the NCAA Championship while the top 25 runners from each race earn all-region honors.

"The regional will give our men's team a chance to move up in the rankings," said UT Arlington Head Cross Country Coach John Sauerhage. "We will treat this meet as a chance to get better and try and beat some of those teams we faced at the conference meet."

The UT Arlington men tied for fourth place at the 2006 Southland Conference Cross Country Championship on Oct. 27. Without a senior on the squad, the Mavs used a balanced effort to gather 122 points to tie Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Junior Jody Broccoli-Hickey was the top Mav runner with a 13th-place finish with a time of 26:04 over the 8,000-meter layout. Freshman Armando Saldivar (26:15) will compete in his third collegiate meet after a 17th-place finish at conference. Sophomore Idilio Campos (26:47) was 23rd at the conference meet and sophomore Ivan Pinal was 25th with a 26:50.

On the women's side, junior Jodi Hulett will try to advance to the NCAA Championships to be held in Terre Haute, Ind., on Nov. 20. Hulett finished third to earn all-SLC honors for the third consecutive season with a time of 21:52 over 6,000-meters.

"Jodi has a real good shot at all-region and if she runs a great race could make nationals," said Sauerhage.

Arkansas is the defending champion on the men's and women's side at the 2005 NCAA South Central Regional.

Results will be posted on BaylorBears.com as soon as they are available. The top two teams in each race qualify automatically for the 2006 NCAA Championships.

- utamavs.com -