UCR grabs Big West honors

Less than one week after the UC Riverside Cross Country
Teams competed in the Big West Championships, Head Coach Irv Ray and
freshman Chad Hall (Big Bear, CA) were honored by the Big West Conference.
Coach Ray won the 2008 Women's Coach of the Year distinction while Hall was
named 2008 Men's Freshman of the Year.

Ray led the UC Riverside program to new heights in just its eighth year of
Division I membership. After finishing last in the women¹s race at the
conference meet as recently as 2004, the Highlanders claimed their first Big
West cross country championship this season. Ray¹s club had two top-10
finishers at the conference meet in Cristina Olivas (Bloomington, CA) and
Brenda Martinez (Rancho Cucamonga, CA), achieved its highest regional
ranking ever (#5) and received votes in the national poll.

Hall had a big impact on the UCR program in his first year of competition.
Hall is not only the first Highlander to ever win a major Big West cross
country award, but also is the first non-Cal Poly runner to win Men¹s
Freshman of the Year accolades.

At the UCR Invitational, he blazed to a 24:04.9 finish, setting the school and course record. The two-time Big West Athlete of the Week also finished 11th at the conference meet, finishing the race in 24:50.

Both Highlander squads return to action on Saturday, Nov. 15 at 11:00 am at the NCAA West Regional in Palo Alto.