DENVER ? Utah State’s Seth Wold and Nevada’s Christa Avena have been named the Western Athletic Conference men and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for the week of Oct. 8-14.
Wold, a junior from Highland, Utah (Lone Peak), registered an 8k time of 24:05.6 and placed 53rd out of 273 runners at the 2007 Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind. Wold helped Utah state to a 29th place team finish out of the 40 teams at the event.
Avena, a junior from Las Vegas, Nev. (Bishop Gorman), placed sixth out of 140 runners at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational this past week in California. Avena clocked a new 5k personal record of 17:40, improving on her previous best by 53 seconds. The sixth place finish marks her third top-10 finish of the season. She also helped Nevada to a fourth place team finish.
Other Men’s Nominees: Louisiana Tech junior Jace Benoit finished third with a 4-mile time of 21:10 at the Northwestern State Demon Invitational, helping the Bulldogs to a second place finish ... Fresno State freshman Erick Garcia finished 18th overall with an 8k time of 27:17 at the Cal Poly Invitational, helping Fresno State to a fifth place finish
Other Women’s Nominees: New Mexico State senior Beth Sandoval led the way for the Aggies, placing 34th with a 5k time of 18:12 ... Fresno State junior Roxanne Sellick placed ninth overall and sixth among collegiate athletes with a time of 18:17 in the 5k race, leading the Bulldogs to a third place team finish.