DENVER – Missouri-Kansas City’s Courtney Frerichs and Utah Valley’s Tyson Lambert have been named the Western Athletic Conference men’s and women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 9-15.
Frerichs, a senior from Nixa, Mo. (Nixa HS), competed for the first time this season at the Forest Park XC Festival 5k where she finished first with a time of 16:55, while the second place opponent came in finishing at 17:20. Frerichs not only set a new UMKC school record for the ‘Roos but was selected for the Division I female USTFCCCA’s National Athlete of the Week. 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.
Lambert, a redshirt freshman from Grantsville, Utah (Stansbury HS), led the Wolverine men at the UC Riverside Invitational by taking 23rd overall in the 8k race with a time of 24:52.3. The race marked the second straight meet that Lambert led Utah Valley as he placed eighth at the USU Invitational two weeks ago. With his 23rd-place finish, Lambert helped the Wolverines take sixth out of 29 teams.
Other Women’s Nominees: Utah Valley… Junior Darian Sharp helped her UVU women’s squad win the 2014 UC Riverside Invitational by pacing the Wolverines with a 12th-place finish in the 6k race with a time of 21:27.7… Chicago State… Senior Oslyn Collins finished 17th in the women’s three-mile race to guide the CSU women at a time of 19:29.6.
Other Men’s Nominees: Missouri-Kansas City… Junior Kolton Sheldon set a personal record for this season in the 6k with this weekend’s time of 18:46 which is a minute faster than his previous race at the Bob Timmons Classic… Chicago State… Sophomore Charles Blackhawk placed 11th at the Bradley Intercollegiate last weekend with a time of 25:57.7 to help the Cougars finish third in the 8k race.