RICHARDSON, TX (08.27.19) - Despite earning the program's first-ever American Southwest Conference Championship last fall, the UT Dallas men's cross country team has been picked to finish second in the league in 2019.

The Comets picked up five of the 11 first-place votes in the polling of the league's head coaches, but earned just 99 points in the balloting. Last year's runner-up Hardin-Simmons earned the top spot in the preseason poll with 107 points and just three first-place votes.

East Texas Baptist was voted third with 96 points, LeTourneau fourth with 81 points, Ozarks fifth with 79 points, McMurry sixth with 74 points and Concordia Texas seventh with 57 points. Belhaven and Mary Hardin-Baylor tied for eighth with 49 points while Louisiana College was 10th with 19 points and Sul Ross State 11th with 18 points. 

Comets' Andres Uriegas and Payton Ash were listed among the Runners to Watch in the ASC this fall. Uriegas, a junior out of Round Rock, was named first team All-ASC after placing fifth in the league championships last fall. Ash, a sophomore from Flower Mound, transferred to UTD this fall from the University of Alabama.

The Comets open the 2019 schedule Friday when they travel to Abilene for the Hardin-Simmons Invitational.