By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Seniors Aaron Yoder and Elias Diaz and junior Jay Lindal redshirted for the 2007 cross country season for Fort Hays State University.

The trio, along with senior Dan Yoder, all return this fall as the backbone for a talented Tiger men's squad that could become the first Fort Hays team to win a Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association championship since the school moved from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference three years ago.

"Should be in the top three if anyone is healthy," fourth-year coach Jason McCullough said. "We are not going to limit ourselves to that. ... I want Fort Hays to start winning titles and I want to start it off in good fashion by winning the cross country one. I know that is the goal of those guys."

Like the men's team, the women's team also returns all of its top runners from one of the most talented squads in the last decade. Both teams have a chance to be in the top three at regionals and qualify for nationals.

"I am more excited about this season than I have been about the previous three, mostly because we have so many returnees coming back," McCullough said.

The top four runners on the men's 19-person team could all compete for a conference championship for a Tiger team that starts the season Saturday with the annual KFC Alumni Run that begins at 9 a.m. at the Fort Hays course.

The squad, which finished fourth in the conference last fall, was picked sixth in the preseason poll, though McCullough believes that ranking is too low.

Dan Yoder, Aaron's brother, returns after he placed fourth at the MIAA meet last fall. He led the team at the South Central Regional and was named co-MVP for the second straight season.

Aaron Yoder, who ran unattached in 2007, won two meets, the Colby Trojan Invitational and the Tabor College Invitational. He also led the Tigers at the Southern Stampede and the FHSU Tiger Invitational. This fall, he broke the course record in the preseason time trial.

"We redshirted him because he injured his knee and came back, had a knee injury last summer, but he is healthy and running well now," McCullough said. "Hopefully he improves from where he was last year."

Lindal, the conference 3,000-meter champion in the track season, and Diaz should be among the elite. McCullough said all four could be in the top 10 at conference, definitely top 20.

"He definitely has a good shot to win," McCullough said. "He comes up big in the big meets. I think him, Aaron and Jay should probably be some of the biggest favorites going into the conference meet. If we have three guys up there in the lead pack with a mile to go, I would be very excited."

The women's team, ranked fifth in the eight-team conference in the coaches' poll, is led by its senior trio of Jackie Jamison, a Quinter native, Nikki Knowles and Ashlee Orr, and junior Ali Mishler.

"Any one of those girls could lead the team at any point this year," McCullough said.

That quartet finished the 2007 season ranked third in the conference and 24th in the nation. According to McCullough, it was the first time a women's team had been ranked at the end of the season since 1997. This year, they'll try to become the first women's team to qualify as a team since 1996.

"I think this is probably the most talented team that we have had," McCullough said.

Orr was the second-best 10-kilometer runner in the MIAA during track season and earned all-MIAA honorable mention honors at the conference meet last fall.

Mishler led the team at conference with a 17th-place finish, also good for honorable mention and was the top runner at the team's time trial.

Knowles improved her personal best in the 5-kilometers by over a minute.

"(Ashlee) has just been improving leaps and bounds over the last year and a half. She definitely should be one of the top three or four runners in the conference," McCullough said. "Ali has made big improvements the last two years, and so has Nikki and Jackie, so I think all four of them have an opportunity to be all-conference and definitely top 20."