JACKSON, Tenn. - The TranSouth Conference coaches have voted Union (Tenn.) University women's cross country as the favorite to win the conference championship in 2008. Bethel (Tenn.) College comes in second place in the polls.

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

The second of 11 NAIA National rankings was released on Tuesday. No TranSouth women's cross country teams are listed in the NAIA rankings at this point.

2008 TranSouth Women'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

Women

Bethel's team is expected to be pretty strong with their large amount of experience, including six seniors. Ezim, Emily, and Mallory are the projected top three with times between 21 and 23 min. for the 5K

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."

Women

On the women's team, the Toppers have five freshmen who performed very well in their strong high school cross country programs. Haleigh and Heather Moore from Saltillo have run on state championship teams and have been all-state runners. Kayla Holcomb was a runner on Pontotoc's state championship team last year. Tuesdae Rowland of Ripley has been an all-state runner for the past four years and Christian Russell of Pontotoc is another fine product of Coach Bain's program at Pontotoc.

UNION UNIVERSITY

Women

Union's women are coming off their fifth straight TranSouth Championship season that also included earning the NAIA Scholar Team Award with a 3.42 TEAM GPA and a trip to the NAIA national meet.

The team in 2008 boasts six freshmen runners. Leading the way for the Lady Bulldogs will be seniors Lydia Bond and Charley Moss. New faces expected to supply some key scores for the team include Hannah Clardy, Danielle Partain, and Carissa Wilson.

Union is going through a transition of having more new runners than returning ones. Coach Johnson is excited about the quality of character and running talent these ladies possess.

This year's group of girls should see an improvement over last season with some strong freshman additions and great leadership from the senior girls.