DENVER ? Louisiana Tech’s Kinsey Dinnel 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 Sept. 22-28.
Dinnel, a senior from Loranger, La. (St. Thomas Aquinas HS), placed second at the LSU Cross Country Festival in Baton Rouge, La. Dinnel finished the eight-kilometer course with a time of 25:02.6, helping his team to a second place finish. The Bulldogs lost to LSU by just two points, but beat McNeese State and Houston among a host of other Louisiana schools.
Avena, a senior from Las Vegas, Nev. (Bishop Gorman HS), was the Pack’s top finisher for a third consecutive meet, placing 47th out of 222 runners at the Roy Griak Invitational. Avena clocked a 6-kilometer time of 22:38. She has been Nevada’s top finisher the past eight meets dating back to Sept. 15, 2007.
Other Men’s Nominees: Fresno State’s Erick Garcia placed 15th at the Stanford Invitational with an 8K time of 25:12.
Other Women’s Nominees: Fresno State’s Marissa McPhail led the Bulldog women with a 99th place finish at the Stanford Invitational with a 6K time of 23:22.