Oct. 30, 2001

MACON, Ga. -- -

Courtesy of the Atlantic Sun Office

Atlantic Sun Men's Cross Country Champion, Georgia State and runner up Samford are ranked eighth and tenth respectively in the current edition of the United States Cross Country Coaches Association South Region Poll released today.

GSU picked up their fifth A-Sun cross country title in the last seven years, including a tie with Samford in 1999. The Panthers posted 35 points, by placing all runners in the top 15. Leading the pack for GSU was former two-time runner of the week honoree and two-time All-Conference performer Giovanni Gentiluomo who finished second the 8k with a time of 25:18.86, 38 seconds of the leaders pace. Teammate Tee Mott picked up his fourth All-Conference honor with a third place time of 25:22.76, Paul Rickard picked up All Conference honors with a fifth place finish time of 25:27.90. Kenneth Martin picked up his second All-Conference honor with a 10th place finish, and Lachlan Oliver placed 15th to round out the scoring runners for the Panthers.

Samford placed second, with a team total 59 points. Samford has either won or shared the A-Sun title each of the last two years. The Bulldogs placed all five of their runners between 9th and 14th place. Pacing Samford was three-time All-Conference performer Brett Baddorf with a 25:44.67 time, good enough for ninth place. Andrew Spear, Bryan Baddorf, Chad Johnson and Micah Stansell finished 11th through 14th respectively.

Samford and Georgia State will next compete at the NCAA South Regional Cross Country Meet in Tuscaloosa, Ala hosted by Alabama-Birmingham on November 10. The NCAA National Cross Country Finals will be held November 19 at Furman University in Greenville, S.C.

Oct 30-USCCCA South Region Men's Cross Country Poll Ranking Team/Conference (1) University of Alabama / SEC (2) Florida State University / ACC (3) University of Florida / SEC (4) University of Tennessee / SEC (5) Auburn University / SEC (6) Georgia Tech University / ACC (7) University of Georgia / SEC (8) Georgia State University/ Atlantic Sun (9) Tennessee-Chattanooga / Southern Conference (10) Samford University / Atlantic Sun