By Layne Weitzel, TTU Sports Information

NEW ORLEANS – The Tennessee Tech men's cross country team has moved to No. 15 in Week 5 of the USTFCCCA South Region rankings, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association on Monday.

Tech appeared at the adidas® Pre-National Invitational last Saturday, placing 31^st as a team. Sophomore Gilbert Boit finished inside the top 20, placing 19^th with a new Tech 8k school record of 23:29.6. Brannon Cheplak (96^th), Sammy Kipkirui (161^st), Benard Sigei (250^th), Hannes Vohn (266^th), Ababu Mohamed (268^th) and Joshua Daugherty (282^nd) rounded out the Tech squad.

 The full list of the USTFCCCA South Region men's Week 5 rankings is as follows:

1. Ole Miss (last week's ranking: 2)
2. Middle Tennessee (last week's ranking: 1)
3. Alabama (last week's ranking: 3)
4. Georgia Tech (last week's ranking: 4)
5. Tennessee (last week's ranking: 6)
6. Florida State (last week's ranking: 9)
7. Auburn (last week's ranking: 7)
8. Belmont (last week's ranking: 8)
9. North Florida (last week's ranking: 10)
10. Georgia (last week's ranking: 5)
11. Samford (last week's ranking: 15)
12. Lipscomb (last week's ranking: 11)
13. East Tennessee State (last week's ranking: NR)
14. UT Martin (last week's ranking: 14)
15. TENNESSEE TECH (last week's ranking: 12)

Tech is now preparing for the OVC Championships, which will be hosted by Eastern Illinois in Charleston, Illinois, on Saturday, Oct. 28.

The USTFCCCA regional cross country rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams' strengths with current season results in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.