Aug. 28, 2008

LAS VEGAS - UNLV cross country opens its 2008 schedule on Thursday, traveling to San Diego for the University of California San Diego for the UCSD Quad Meet, held at Triton cross country course.

The Rebels and Titans will be in a field that includes the University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene, and the meet will start at 4:00 p.m. (PT).

UNLV, which is entering its third season under head coach Tony Houchin, returns a pair letterwinners from last year's squad in senior Jenni Shearer and sophomore Ashley Silva. They will be joined at this meet by newcomers Bailey Kuestermeyer, Erin Murphy, Amber Throop, Brett Zorich and Isabelle Stoate.

"This is a good meet for us to start the season with," Houchin said. "I am very excited about the group of runners on the team this year. We have a lot of new faces on the squad and I am looking forward for everyone to get their feet wet this weekend."

Last season the Rebels finished in seventh place at the 2007 MWC Championships, the team's best finish since 2000, when they came in sixth place. Also, it was the first time since 2000 that UNLV has not come in last place at the highly-competitive conference meet.

UNLV will run in four regular-season meets this year, all of them in California, before competing in the 2008 MWC Championships on Nov. 1 in San Diego.