NEW ORLEANS -- The Carson-Newman women's cross country moved up one spot to No. 7 in the Southeast Region in the latest United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association poll, USTFCCCA officials announced Tuesday.

The Lady Eagles have had a strong start to the 2009 season with a fifth place finish in the Eye Opener Invitational to begin the year, a fourth place showing on Sept. 18 in the Mountaineer Open and an eighth place finish at the Southern Indiana Invitational/Pre-Nationals last week.

Queens of Charlotte is ranked first in the region, followed by Lees-McRae, Columbus State, Augusta State and Lenoir-Rhyne. Rounding out the poll are Anderson, C-N, Converse, Montevallo and Georgia College.

The Lady Eagles return to action on Saturday in the Belmont Abbey Invitational in Belmont, N.C. Both the women's and men's cross country teams will be wearing pink bows to help raise awareness in the fight against breast cancer. The teams will be wearing the bows for all three of their competitions in October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

"It's something that has had an impact on immediate and extended family members of some of our runners," C-N coach Whitney Lee said. "We hope to see other student-athletes and students from Carson-Newman join us in this effort in their own way all through the month of October."