DENVER - UT Rio Grande Valley's Alberto Herrera and Utah Valley's McKayla Morgan have been named Western Athletic Conference Male and Female Cross Country Runners of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 4 - 10.
Herrera, a sophomore from Weslaco, Texas (Weslaco East HS), took ninth among 56 runners at the UIW Invitational in Live Oak, Texas. The mark was the fifth-fastest 8000-meter time in program history as the Vaqueros finished fourth as a team.
Morgan, a junior from Riverton, Utah (Riverton HS), took second at the Southern Utah Color Country Invitational, besting her previous personal record in the 4000-meter by 48 seconds with a time of 14:25.6. She was one of three Wolverines to finish inside the top 10 as UVU finishing second as a team.
Other male nominees: Grand Canyon's Chris Baker finished 20th overall at the Mesa Thunderbird Classic in his first race of 2016 … Utah Valley's Jason Lynch placed fifth at the SUU Color Country Invitational to lead the Wolverines for a second straight meet and set a new UVU course record.
Other female nominees: Grand Canyon's Erica Wallace led the Lopes to a fourth-place finish at the Mesa Thunderbird Classic with a 18th-place individual finish … UT Rio Grande Valley's Jennifer Zapata used a second-place individual finish to lead the Vaqueros to a second-place team finish at the UIW Invitational.