BARBOURVILLE, Ky. - Following a fourth-place finish at the NCCA Division II National Championship last season, Union College head cycling coach Chuck Coffey returns the core of the team. The Bulldogs open the 2008 season Saturday and Sunday at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Mo.

Despite the strong national finish, the Bulldogs were unable to capture a fourth MidWest Collegiate Cycling Conference championship in a row. Coffey, though, recruited quality riders that will hopefully bring back the MWCCC crown.

This season Coffey will look upon a talent-filled team mixed with newcomers and experience to try to regain conference supremacy.

The 2008 squad according to Coffey might be the deepest during his tenure at Union. "Some years we have had four expert riders and now we have seven entering 2008," Coffey commented. Union also has a tradition to keep building on of national championship appearances as the team has eight straight and is looking for trip number nine in 2008.

Of the seven male expert riders, there are seniors, a junior, two sophomores and two freshmen.

All sophomore Zach Winn (Fort Hope, Canada) did in his freshman season was win the MWCCC Rider of the Year award. He opened the season with a pair of wins at the first event in Indiana and kept the momentum up throughout 2007 on route to the honor. Winn became the second Union rider to collect the MWCCC Rider of the Year award joining 2005 winner Travis Mullen.

Greg Gibson, a Salt Lake City, Utah native, finished fourth overall in the omnium standings at the NCCA National Championship. The 2007 season was the first for Gibson in a Union uniform after he transferred in. He used a fourth-place finish in the short track event and added an eight-place ride in the cross country race during the nationals.

Newcomer German Bermudez (Louisville, Ky.) brings in two years of outstanding collegiate experience. Matt Nourmohamadi (Laguna Hills, Calif.) and Brad Nelson (Carmel, Ind.) are also incoming riders that Coffey will look to ride in the expert division.

Zac Moore (Loveland, Ohio) and Jonathan Turner (Harlan, Ky.) bring additional expert division experience. Moore will be a junior this season while Turner is a sophomore. Moore and Turner showed strong and steady performances throughout the 2007 season.

Coffey also has a host of sophomores back for the 2008 season to help on the trail for a championship.

On the women's side, senior Amy Russell (Monticello, Ky.) will be asked to lead the squad. She is the lone upperclassman returning on the women's side. Russell looks to build on a pair of Top-20 rides at last year's nationals. During the regular season, she racked up numerous Top-10 finishes including a win at the University of Michigan time trial.

Coffey was able to lure Rachel Millsop (Little Rock, Ark.) to join the program this season. Like Bermudez, she has a year of collegiate experience to rely on. At last year's NCCA Division II National Championship she posted two Top-15 finishes in the cross country and short track events. Millsop also picked up the MWCCC Short Track crown.

Jamie Bonza (Corbin, Ky.) returns for her sophomore campaign. She posted two Top-5 finishes at Michigan. Sara Seitz (Lexington, Ky.) and Emily Yeager (Dry Ridge, Ky.) add depth with tons of athletic ability and determination according to Coffey.

The MWCCC Championship will be contested at Purdue (Ind.) University on October 11-12 while the NCCA National Championship is two weeks later in Banner Elk, N.C., and hosted by Lees-McRae College once again.