Oct. 31, 2008

Charlotte, N.C. - The UMass men's and women's cross country teams head to Charlotte, N.C this weekend for the Atlantic 10 Championships. Charlotte will hold the meet in the Queen City at the Charlotte Campus Course where all 14 Atlantic 10 teams will be competing for a chance at the trophy. Both the men's and women's team will be coming off one week's rest. The Minutemen look to improve on their third place finish from last year, while the Minutewomen look to beat their sixth place ranking. The Minutemen remain ranked seventh in the northeast region in the USTFCCCA polls

The 20th annual Women's Cross Country Championship will begin at 10:00AM. The 31st annual Men's Cross Country Championship kicks off directly after at 10:45 on the 8,000 meter course. Last year, LaSalle took both the men's and women's Atlantic 10 trophy home to Philadelphia, although Minutewoman Christina Derosa finished first overall.

Two weeks ago, the Minutewomen ranked ninth at the Albany Invitational, with redshirt sophomore standout Shiyi Zan (Ottawat, Ontario) finishing ninth of 161 runners. The Minutewomen will look to their sophomore leader to set the pace for UMass again this weekend. Followin Zan, rookie Karen Roa (Jamaica, N.Y.) should finish well for the Minutewomen. Roa has been a consistent second-place finisher for the Minutewomen, finishing 30th at the Albany Invitational with a time of 18:46.8. Last year at the Atlantic 10s, sophomores Lauren Stocker (Westfield, Mass.) and Samantha Sacchetti (Weymouth, Mass.) and senior Amber Sayer (Amherst, Mass.) rounded out the Minutewomen's top five, placing 29th, 57th, and 67th respectively.

The Minutemen will be bringing a deep team to the Championships this weekend. Last weekend, the Minutemen ranked 20th of 41 teams at the ISU Pre-Nationals. The Minutemen have had different members of the team step up at different times throughout the season. Senior Nils Fischer (Stow, Mass.) and junior Andrew Mulvaney (South Hadley, Mass.) have led the Minutemen the most, each finishing first on the team twice this season. Junior Nicolai Naranjo (Essex Falls, N.J.) can also lead the pack, finishing first at the last meet in Terre Haute, Ind. Brothers David and Kevin Johnson (Ludlow, Mass.) and senior Jesse Regnier (Hampden, Mass.) will also look to finish high for the Minutemen.

For all Atlantic 10 Championship information, please visit their website at http://www.atlantic10.org. For live video, follow this All Access Link: http://all-access.cbssports.com/player.html?code=ncch&media=84223.