THIS WEEK IN THE WAC
Friday, October 4
Kansas City at Adidas Notre Dame Invitational South Bend, Ind.
Utah Valley at Color Country Invitational Cedar City, Utah
Saturday, October 5
Grand Canyon at GCU Invitational Phoenix, Ariz.
Idaho at Dellinger Invitational Springfield, Ore.
Seattle U at Dellinger Invitational Springfield, Ore.
Kansas City at Rim Rock Classic Lawrence, Kan.
New Mexico State at Rim Rock Classic Lawrence, Kan.
WEEK 5 RESULTS
Friday, September 27
Chicago State at College of DuPage Invite M-4th/4, W-4th/4
Texas-Pan American at Islander Splash M-4th/7, W-6th/8
Saturday, September 28
New Mexico State at Kachina Classic M-2nd/2, W-1st/2
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK, SEPT. 23-29
Texas-Pan American’s Luis Serrano and New Mexico State’s Diana Hawk have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 23-29.
Serrano, a senior from Edinburg, Texas (Edinburg North HS), finished sixth out of 56 runners at the Islander Splash in Corpus Christi, Texas. His time of 27:02 in the 8k race led the Broncs to a fourth-place finish as a team. This is Serrano’s second Athlete of the Week honor this season.
Hawk, a junior from Albuquerque, N.M. (Manzano HS), finished first overall in the Kachina Classic, which marks the fourth time this year she’s taken the top overall spot, in just four races. Hawk’s time of 19:11.90 is a season-best in a 5K run. She has led the women’s team to three consecutive first-place finishes. This is her second Athlete of the Week honor this season.
Other Men’s Nominees: DeShaunte Lewis, Chicago State.
Other Women’s Nominees: Oslyn Melissa Collins, Chicago State … Robin Galloso, Texas-Pan American.
TWO WAC SCHOOLS REGIONALLY RANKED
Two Western Athletic Conference schools earned recognition after being ranked in the top 15 of their respective regional rankings by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Utah Valley appears in the men’s Mountain Region rankings, placing 12th for the second week in a row.
On the women’s side, Idaho moved up one spot to No. 14 in the West Region rankings, improving on the No. 15 position that the Vandals had held for the previous two weeks.
TEAM RECAPS
Bakersfield Roadrunners
The Roadrunners competed on Sept. 21 at The Mustang Challenge, hosted by Master’s College in Santa Clarita, Calif. .... the ‘Runners finished fifth at the meet ... freshman LaShya Morgan was the top finishing Bakersfield cross country runner for the third consecutive meet, as she turned in a time of turned in a time of 19:44.08 on the 5K course to finish 36th overall ... junior Megan Thompson finished 43rd (20:15.11) ... junior Jorey Braughton posted a career best time of 20:18.51 to place 44th ... Bakersfield is off until Oct. 19, when the Roadrunners will compete in the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational in Sunnyvale, Calif.
Chicago State Cougars
Chicago State last competed at the College of DuPage Invite on Sept. 27 ... both the men and women finished fourth out of four Division I teams .. junior Oslyn Melissa Collins led the women with an 11th-place finish among 167 runners ... her time of 19:49.7 in the 5K race was the best of the day for the Cougars ... junior DeShaunte Lewis led the men, earning a 29th-place finish with a time of 26:54.4 ... junior David Prchal was the second Cougar to finish, with a time of 30:55.7 ... Chicago State will be off this weekend ... the Cougars will return to action on Oct. 12 at the UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa meet in Somers, Wisc.
Grand Canyon ‘Lopes
The Grand Canyon University men’s and women’s cross country teams travelled to Tucson, Ariz. for the Dave Murray Invitational, hosted by Arizona, on Sept. 21... both teams finished in fourth place, running against Arizona, Arizona State and Northern Arizona for the second consecutive meet ... the NAU men’s squad was ranked second nationally in the latest USTFCCCA poll, while the ASU men were 28th ... the U of A’s women’s team was ranked fifth in the same poll.... for the second straight meet, Brandon Kocmoud led the way for the ‘Lopes men, running the 4.25 mile course in 23:45.27 to finish 20th ... Kelsi Klotter was the top finisher for the women, posting a mark of 19:33.67 to claim 27th ... after a having a bye last weekend, the ‘Lopes will be back in action on Saturday when they host the GCU Invitational.
Idaho Vandals
Idaho competed at the Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 14, with the women claiming third place and the men finishing in fourth ... senior Hannah Kiser finished sixth out of 86 runners, placing behind only runners from Washington, the No. 7 team in nation ... with a time of 20:45.21, Kiser helped aid the Vandals in their third place overall-finish in the meet, with a score of 87 ... Kiser was named WAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week for her efforts ... junior Cody Helbling crossed the finish line in 10th place out of 87 runners at the Sundodger Invitational…his time of 24:14.01 over the 8K course is the third-fastest time in Idaho history … after two weekends off, the Vandals will be back in competittion on Saturday, competing at the Dellinger Invitational in Springfield, Ore.
Kansas City Kangaroos
The ‘Roos competed on Sept. 21 at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational, hosted by the University of Nebraska.... the men’s squad finished fourth and the women’s squad placed 12th ... the Kansas City women were led by sophomore Courtney Frerichs, who claimed the race against 271 other runners ... the sophomore’s time of 20:57.80 for 6K is a new school record and ranks third all-time on the course .... Frerichs defeated her nearest opponent, Kansas State’s Laura Galvan, by just over 26 seconds ... the ‘Roo men were paced by Bryce Miller who placed 12th (25:56.50) ... the ‘Roos will be back in action this week following a bye ... UMKC will split its squads, sending half to the Adidas Notre Dame Invitational on Friday and the other half to the Rim Rock Classic at Kansas on Saturday.
New Mexico State Aggies
The Aggies hosted the Kachina Classic on Sept. 28, racing against UTEP ... the women defeated the Miners 17-40 and the men fell 21-43 ... the Aggies were led by junior Diana Hawk , who finished first overall, which marks the fourth time she’s taken the top overall spot in four races ... Hawk’s time of 19:11.90 is a season-best in a 5K run this season ... junior Megan McNally finished second overall with a time of 19:26.85 and was followed in third by senior Sarabel Bojorquez, who finished with a time of 20:00.10 ... seniors Christiana Barela and Gael Sanchez finished fifth and sixth respectively ... junior Nathan Starr finished fourth on the men’s side with a time of 16:37.07 and was followed by junior Hab Rubio, who finished with a time of 16:43.03 ... the Aggies will compete again on Saturday, at the Rim Rock Classic in Lawrence, Kan.
Seattle University Redhawks
The Seattle University cross country teams competed at the Sundodger Invitational on Sept. 14 ... both squads finished in fifth place ... senior Hannah Mittelstaedt once again crossed the finish line as the Redhawks’ top female finisher, posting a 15th-place finish in 21:42. ... senior captain Lauren Hammerle ran a strong race, moving up into 19th place at the end with a time of 21:50, followed by Sophie Curatilo in 23rd place in 21:56 ... sophomore Nathan McLaughlin was the first runner representing the Seattle U men across the line in 49th place ... he was followed by fellow sophomore Gus Arroyo in 57th place in 25:45.32, a full minute faster than the mark he achieved last season at the same exact event ... after two weekends off, the Redhawks will be back in action on Saturday at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Springfield, Ore.
Texas-Pan American Broncs
The UTPA men’s and women’s cross country competed at the Islander Splash in Corpus Christi, Texas on Sept. 27 ... the men finished in fourth place against seven teams, while the women placed sixth out of eight ... senior Luis Serrano placed sixth in the 8K men’s race, with time of 27:02, earning WAC Athlete of the Week honors ... Martin Casse came in 16th place out of 56 runners with a time of 28:00 and Hansel Ibarra finished in 25th place recording a time of 28:44 ... senior Robin Galloso led the women, posting an 18:40 time to place fourth in the 5K race ... the Broncs will be off this weekend, returning to action on Oct. 12 at the UIW Cardinal Invitational in San Antonio, Texas.
Utah Valley Wolverines
The Utah Valley University cross country teams raced at the Bozeman Running Co/Montana State Invitational on Sept. 21 at Bridger Creek Golf Course ... the men finished third and the women placed seventh ... sophomore Trac Norris placed seventh with a time of 25:45 ... he earned his second straight WAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week honor ... Darian Sharp’s time of 18:05 earned a 15th-place finish, just two spots and two seconds in front of teammate Brooke Hodson-Davies (17th, 18:07) in the three mile race ... the Wolverines will have next week off to prepare for the Color Country Invitational at Southern Utah on Friday, Oct. 4.