AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The Augusta State cross country team made big strides this season, continuing to take the program in the right direction.

Adam Ward, in his fourth year as head coach of the Jaguars, has made this program what it is today. Under his guidance, the team had four second-place finishes over the season and no finish below fifth. Honored for the second year in a row as the Peach Belt Conference women’s cross country Coach-of-the-Year, Ward has made a great impact on the program.

“These ladies really dedicated themselves to making this year memorable”, said Ward. “It will be tough losing some of them next year, but our recruiting has been going extremely well and I expect us to be pretty close to where we were this season next fall. I think you will see ASU cross country making even more headlines next year and hopefully a trip to nationals from our new region in 2008.”

The Jags finished a very close second at the PBC Championships behind Columbus State by only seven points. This marked Augusta State’s best finish in the PBC Championships since 1995.

Based on the performance during the regular season and their second-place finish in the PBC, the Jags earned their second bid to the South Regional in Huntsville, Ala., on Nov. 3, where they finished a very respectable fifth out of 23 teams. The Jaguars had three runners – junior Jenafer Forward and seniors Annie Kim and Kristyn Holley – place among the top 32.

Holley, who earlier in the season was named Runner-of-the-Week two weeks running, was joined by all-conference runners Forward and Kim. Forward also set the school’s 6k record this season with a time of 23:16.

ASU returns all but three runners for the 2008 squad, and looks to pick up where they left off in 2007.