DENVER – The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced Monday afternoon its National Athletes of the Week for this past weekend of college cross country action. Of them, UMKC’s Courtney Frerichs was selected as the Division 1 female honoree.
For winning Friday’s Forest Park Festival in St. Louis’s verdant Forest Park, UMKC’s Courtney Frerichs is the USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week. After Frerichs won Friday’s 5k by 25 seconds, UMKC coach (and Butler Ratings impresario) James Butler described her as a “dark horse” on the 2014 national scene. She redshirted the 2014 outdoor season but still had a productive summer on the oval, finishing sixth in a loaded field in the steeple at USAs and fourth in the NACAC U23 steeple. In her last cross country race a year ago, she was 38th at NCAAs.
Frerichs may be a Kangaroo, but with UMKC headed to the stacked Roy Griak Invitational on September 27, we’ll see just how dark of a horse she is.
National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to six collegiate cross country athletes (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions).
Nominations are open to the public. Coaches and sports information directors are encouraged to nominate their student-athletes; as are student-athletes, their families and friends, and fans of their programs.
The award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors will also play a role in the decision.