JACKSON, Tenn. - The TranSouth Conference coaches have voted Union (Tenn.) University as the favorite to win the conference championship. Bethel (Tenn.) College comes in second in both polls.

Following Union and Bethel, Blue Mountain (Miss.) College is third, and Lyon (Ark.) College is fourth.

The second of 11 NAIA National rankings was released on Tuesday. Union's men are preseason ranked No. 6. This marks the highest ranking for any TranSouth cross country team in the history of the league. No other TranSouth cross country teams are listed in the NAIA rankings.

2008 TranSouth Men's Cross Country Coach's Poll

1. Union University

2. Bethel College

3. Blue Mountain College

4. Lyon College

#TRANSOUTH#

Season Outlooks for each of the cross country teams

BETHEL COLLEGE

Men

Bethel's men's team should be stronger than last year. The Wildcats brought in two guys from Kenya that should lead the way. Randon, Bill, and Ryan should be the rest of our top 5 with times between 28 and 32 minutes for the 8K.

BLUE MOUNTAIN COLLEGE

The Toppers are entering their second season of cross country with entirely new teams of men and women.

Coach Smith is excited and thankful for the young men and women who have joined the team. "These are excellent runners and also young adults of wonderful character. They have all come from good strong programs, and they know what it takes to excel. I am blessed to have the opportunity to work with them."

Men

On the men's side, the team has six freshmen runners, five of whom are from the state championship team from Saltillo, Miss., including Hunter Flanagan, Ross Livingston, Richard Feist, Will Nichols, and Heath Lindley. The other addition to the team is Nathan Young from Pontotoc, an excellent runner.

UNION UNIVERSITY

Men

Union's men are coming off their fourth straight TranSouth Championship season that also included earning the NAIA Scholar Team Award with a 3.54 TEAM GPA and an 8th place finish at NAIA nationals.

The team in 2008 could be even stronger with two new Kenyan runners named Alex Bett and Hillary Maiyo in addition to outstanding freshmen Zach Covington of Saltillo, Miss. and Joel Wellum of Louisville, Ky.

Union's men received a preseason national ranking of 6^th, which is the highest ranking in program history.

Union has a group that has a lot of high school and international running experience. Coach Johnson is counting heavily on new faces to contribute to the success of the program.