DENVER - New Mexico State's Jereme Santistevan and Seattle U's Lila Rice have been named Western Athletic Conference Runners of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 28-Oct. 4. This is Rice's second honor this year.
Santistevan ran the 8k in 24:59.4 and placed 25th in the field that included host Kansas, No. 22 Iowa State, and Nebraska. The sophomore from Pojoaque, N.M. is the top runner for the Aggies who are currently 15th in the Mountain Region by the USTFCCCA. Santistevan has been NM State's top finisher consistently in every meet this season.
Rice was the first from Seattle U to cross the finish line (for the third time this season), beating her personal career best by almost one minute. The junior from Redmond, Wash. Ran the 6k in 21:05.8 for 57th place out of 113 runners at the Washington Invitational. The Washington Invitational put Seattle U up against some of the top cross country teams in the nation (four of the Top 12 teams in the nation were running) - Oregon, Washington, Stanford, BYU, Air Force, Gonzaga, Eastern Washington, Portland, Washington State, UCLA and Oregon State all competed.
Other men's nominees: Seattle U's Nathan McLaughlin was the first from Seattle U to cross the finish line, beating his personal career best by almost one minute. The redshirt junior ran the 8k in 24:28.2 finishing 65th in the Washington Invitational.
Other women's nominees: Bakersfield's Angel Valdez led the Runners' in the 6k with a time of 23:20.8 breaking into the CSU Bakersfield Division I Top 5. Valdez finished 40th in a huge field of nearly 200 women at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational Saturday morning. Valdez's time allowed the Bakersfield native to register the fifth-fastest time for a ‘Runner since CSUB moved to NCAA Division I in 2007. The sophomore bested her 6k personal best by 47 seconds and posted the fastest 6k time for a ‘Runner since 2012 (Jazmin Lopez, 22:48). Missouri-Kansas City's Brooke Guiot led the UMKC women's cross country team in the Rim Rock Classic hosted by the University of Kansas, when she ran her way to a personal record in the 6K. Guiot finished the 6K in 23:58, nearly a minute and a half faster than her previous PR, which she set as a freshman in 2013. The finish was also two minutes faster than her time in the Roy Griak Invitational just a week earlier. Cristina Amberg of New Mexico State led NM State for the first time this season in finishing 32nd overall at the Rim Rock Classic that featured host Kansas, Rice and Nebraska. The sophomore ran the 6k race in 22:49.3 for 32nd place at the Rim Rock Classic.