, N.C. (Sept. 15, 2006) - The ETSU men's and women's cross country program competed at the Western Carolina Open in Cullowhee, N.C. with the men's team finishing third out of 17. Appalachian State claimed the victory for the men's side with Georgia coming in second.

Leading the charge for the ETSU men's side, was sophomore Michael Deren (Blasdell, N.Y.) finishing 11^th overall and clocking in at 20:01. Following him in second and third, respectively were Jeff Crane (20:24) and Kenneth Rotich (20:33). Josh Hicks finished fourth for the Bucs with a time of 21:08, and David McDaniel rounded out the men's side at 21:43.

At the three-mile mark, Rotich took a bad fall and was down for almost a minute. At the time of the fall, Deren and Rotich were in third and fourth respectively.

"They looked fair in the front, but they need a lot of work in the back," said men's head coach Dave Walker. "Hopefully by the William and Mary meet at the end of the month, we'll have seen some improvement in training that will carry over."

On the women's side, an injury-plagued ETSU did not compete with a full team. The Lady Bucs ran three girls with Allie Frazier (Knoxville, Tenn.) finishing first for ETSU. Victoria Currie (Dumfries, Scotland) and Christin Zink (Herndon, Va.) finished second and third, respectively for the Lady Bucs. Full finish times were not available at press time.

"It wasn't a great opening meet for us, we struggled. We are just struggling with a lot of injuries right now," said women's head coach Michelle Byrne. "The good thing is that it's early and hopefully we'll go back on Sunday and try to figure some things out."

Both cross country teams will continue their season Saturday, September 30 at the William and Mary Colonial Inter-Regional Challenge in Williamsburg, Va. The meet is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.