Oct. 8, 2007

ST. LOUIS - Saint Louis' Steve Vargas has been named the Atlantic 10 Conference's Men's Cross Country Performer of the Week for the period ending Oct. 7, the first weekly conference honor in the history of the program. The senior established a new 8K school record at Saturday night's Brooks Memphis Twilight.

"I am happy that Steve is finally getting the recognition he deserves," Billiken interim head coach Jon Bell said. "He has been battling injuries throughout his career, and now as a senior he is putting it all together and breaking records. For him to run at the tail end of the lead pack at Saturday's highly-competitive race speaks volumes about his ability to compete."

Vargas crossed the line in 25:10.63, breaking the nine-year old school record of 25:19 held previously by Mike Lueke. Vargas' mark also bettered his personal best in the 8K by 45 seconds. He finished 18th overall out of 341 runners and helped the Billikens to an impressive fifth-place finish in the 42-team field.

In the weekly A-10 coaches' poll released Monday, the men's squad moved up one spot to ninth. Meanwhile, the women's squad moved into a tie for fifth in the league rankings after finishing second out of 41 squads at the Brooks Memphis Twilight.