Posted by Steven Aldridge - Wed, Sep 10, 2008 - [Men's Cross Country] - Viewed 2007 times
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 6th, 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.
