Nov. 16, 2002

LARAMIE, Wyo. -

The University of Wyoming cross country teams concluded their 2002 season Saturday with competition at the NCAA Region Championship in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Cowboys finished the 10-kilometer event 15th out of 18 teams while in the 6-kilometer race the Cowgirls placed 13th out of 17 teams.

The defending national champion BYU Cougars captured the women's title by finishing five runners in the top ten places. The men's championship went to Northern Arizona University out of the Big Sky Conference.

Sophomore Ashley Mecham led the Cowgirls finishing 57th out of 123 runners with a time of 22:51. Following Mecham was sophomore Jennifer Thompson in 61st (22:59), senior Stephanie Hanks in 65th (23:02), sophomore Natalie Kean in 83rd (23:31), and freshman Elena Helmrick in 87th (23:38). Other Cowgirls that competed but did not score points were freshman Christine Michel (101st, 24:15) and freshman Emeral Reid (104th, 24:22).

The Cowboys were paced by sophomore Amasa Mecham who finished in 56th place with a time of 31:56. Behind Mecham was freshman Brian Knight in 65th place with a time of 32:32. Other Cowboys finishers were freshman Michel Huntington (71st, 32:42), junior Jason Delany (94th, 34:21), and junior Joel Hess (99th, 34:44). Also running for the Cowboys but coming up short of points were sophomore Jeremy Thompson (101st, 34:51) and sophomore Arte Huhn (104th, 35:18).

"The girls did a good job, we had the top three run pretty tight and the four and five runners were not that far behind, so we had nice spacing. The only problem is that there are so many good teams in this region, considering everything else we ran a solid race," said head cross country coach Jim Sanchez following the meet.

"Our guys were only three strong, we had to leave a couple of runners at home due to injuries but those things happen, so that cost us a few places. We need to mature and get better because we are in one of the toughest regions in the country, but we are slowly progressing and that is promising."

Team Results

	Men						Women

1. Northern Arizona 	74			1. BYU			29
2. Colorado		93			2. Colorado		66
3. BYU			99			3. Northern Arizona	90
4. Weber State		128			4. Colorado State	99
5. Montana State	130			5. Weber State		105
6. Colorado State	180			6. Air Force		209
7. New Mexico		186			7. Montana State	219
8. Utah State		203			8. Utah State		220
9. Utah			214			9. Utah			235
10. Air Force		215			10. Texas Tech		269
11. UTEP		217			11. Southern Utah	307
12. Montana 		337			12. Montana 		311
13. Idaho State		363			13. Wyoming		353
14. Southern Utah	379			14. Nevada		358
15. Wyoming		387			15. New Mexico		417
16. Texas Tech		455			16. Idaho State		452
17. New Mexico State	503			17. Denver		528
18. Denver		546