ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
MEN - Dirk de Heer, a junior from Groningen, The Netherlands, won his first collegiate cross country race, taking the title at the Kachina Classic in Las Cruces, N.M. de Heer won the 8k event by two seconds over Fil Apodace, finishing with a time of 23:47. UTEP finished first with 19 points.
WOMEN - Corine van Beek, a junior from Ermelo, The Netherlands, was the first collegiate finisher and second overall finisher at the Kachina Classic. van Beek finished with a time of 18:41 in the 6k race. She helped the Miners to second-place, 38-point performance.
OTHERS NOMINATED Men - Mindi Pukstas, SMU; Forest Braden, Boise State .... Women - Victoria Chang, Hawaii; Robin Wemple, Boise State; Karin van Rooyen, SMU.
NOTES FROM THE COURSE - Boise State headed to Seattle, Wash., for the Sundodger Invitational ... the men finished sixth while the women took eighth ... Forest Braden again led the Broncos, finishing 25th with a time of 24:57 in the 8k race ... he finished two seconds ahead of teammate Miles Wiscombe who grabbed 29th ... on the womens side, Robin Wemple kept up her pace, finishing 28th, with a time of 17:55 ... also in the 5k race, Kayla Christensen grabbed 46th (18:16).
Hawaiis Victoria Chang finished second at the Big Wave in Honolulu, with a time of 18:44.5 ... in fifth was teammate Hanna Bremeler who crossed at 19:08.
The Rice women finished first at the SMU Invite, behind a 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 team finish ... Kate Gorry (18:57) grabbed third for the Owls, ahead of teammate Katie Waite (18:58) who took fourth.
SMU hosted the SMU Invite at Norbuck Park, letting any WAC runners get a feel for this years championship course ... the men grabbed first behind the legs of Mindi Pukstas, who finished the 8k race in a time of 25:02 ... fellow Mustang Graham Davidson finished third (25:10). on the womens side, the Lady Mustangs took second ... Karin van Rooyen was again the leader, taking first with a time of 17:56.6 ... teammate Emily Field finished just behind van Rooyen, taking second (18:08).
UTEP headed west to Las Cruces, N.M., for the Kachina Classic ... the men grabbed first, behind six top-10 finishers ... Dirk de Heer won the event in a time of 23:47 ... Ruben Diz was the next Miner to cross the line, taking fifth (24:17) ... the women finished second behind the legs of Corine van Beek ... van Beek took first with a time of 18:41 ... Maria Llerena (19:45) was the only other miner in the top 10, finishing eighth.
STANFORD INVITATIONAL Five WAC schools will head to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational. Fresno State, Nevada, Hawaii, San Jose State and SMU will all get a closer look at WAC competition before the WAC Championship on Nov. 2.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIP TO BE HELD IN DALLAS Dallas, Texas and SMU will play host to the 2002 WAC Championships. The event will take place on Saturday, November 2. The Rice men and Tulsa women will both look to defend their titles from the 2001 Championship held in Hawaii.