HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The East Carolina cross country teams competed in the Conference USA Championship on Saturday with both the men and women's teams finishing in eighth place overall.

The tournament, which was hosted by Southern Miss, featured 12 teams competing on the men's side and 14 teams running on the women's side.

Charlotte finished in first on the men's side with three finishers in the top six and 53 points overall while Marquette captured the women's title with four runners in the top seven and only 29 team points on the day. The ECU men finished with an overall count of 219 while the women ended the race with 194 points overall.

Sophomore Kyle MacKenzie led the way for the men with a time of 25:27.58 in the 8k race finishing 15th overall while freshman Kristian Jorgenson ran a time of 26:30.35, finishing 36th overall and second on the Pirates squad. Other top finishers for the men included sophomore Matt Gorman (27:25.78) in 55th place, junior Ryan Strohl (27:37.33) in 58th place and freshman Jason Lee (27:41.31) in 61st place.

"It was a great experience for us," said ECU head coach Len Klepack. " The whole men's team comes back next year and we are only going to get better."

The women were lead by the strong running of senior Kay Livick who finished 14th overall with a time of 22:13.38 in the 6k race and senior Melinda Dubose who ended the race in 22:59.15, 25th overall. Senior Kellie Litton (23:47.11) in 48th place and freshman Jessica Collins (23:54.87) in 52nd place finished 3rd and 4th respectively for the Pirates.

"It was great for Kay Livick to make All-Conference in her senior year improving from the 30's last year to top 15 this year," said Len Klepack

The Pirates will host the 2002 NCAA Cross Country Southeast Regional Championships on Nov.16 at Overton's Lake Kristi.