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UTAH VALLEY'S LAMBERT, WALKER NAMED WAC ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Utah Valley's Tyson Lambert and McKayla Walker have been named the Western Athletic Conference men's and women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 9-15.
Lambert, a senior from Grantsville, Utah, became the first Utah Valley men's cross country athlete ever to finish the regular season undefeated with his fourth victory of the year at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational last Saturday. He set a program course record of 23:39.7 in the 8k race to secure a fourth straight win in the final regular season meet of his career, beating out runners from No. 20 UCLA and No. 25 Portland. In addition, Lambert spearheaded a one-two finish for the Wolverines and three top 10 Utah Valley finishers as UVU finished third out of 16 teams.
Walker, a senior from Riverton, Utah, placed 12th among 160 runners with a time of 20:46.4 in the women's 6K despite battling an illness at the Santa Clara Invitational. She paced a quartet of top 25 finishers for Utah Valley among Division I runners at the meet as the Wolverines placed fourth out of 20 teams. Walker led all runners on the squad for the third straight race.
Other Men's Nominees: Chicago State's Dijon Smith placed 37th out of 217 runners with a time of 25:33.4 in the 8k at the Bradley Pink Classic last Friday ... Daniel Flores of Grand Canyon finished 44th out of 157 runners with a time of 24:41 in the 8k at the Bronco Invitational ... Kansas City's Bryce Miller finished 58th out of 282 runners with a time of 24:08.3 in the 8k at Pre-Nationals ... Abel Ketema of NM State ran a 24:20.4 in the 8k to finish 17th at Bronco Invitational ... Seattle U's Eli Boudouris finished 28th out of 155 runners in 8k at the Lewis and Clark State Invitational with a time of 24:58 ... Matthew Peynado of UT Rio Grande Valley placed 80th of 254 runners at the Crimson Classic with a time of 26.04.1 on the 8k course.
Other Women's Nominees: CSU Bakersfield's Angel Valdez placed 16th of 160 runners at the Bronco Invitational with a time of 20:54.6 in the 6k ... Mariah Montoya of Grand Canyon took 15th out of 160 runners at the Bronco Invitational with a time of 20:53 ... Kansas City's Chandler Carreon finished 23rd out of 259 runners at Pre-Nationals with a time of 21:37.11 on the 6k course ... Crissey Amberg of NM State took 19th at the Bronco Invitational with a time of 20:58.9 in the 6k race ... Seattle U's Olivia Stein finished second out of 129 runners at the Lewis and Clark State Invitational with a time of 17:27.0 in the 5k race.
REGIONALLY RANKED
Three men's teams and one women's team are listed in the Oct. 16 USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country rankings. The Kansas City men are ranked ninth in the Midwest Region. In the Mountain Region, Utah Valley is ranked 11th, while NM State is 14th. On the women's side, Utah Valley is ranked 13th in the Mountain Region.
WAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2017 WAC Cross Country Championships are in Las Cruces, N.M. and will be hosted by NM State. The event will take place at the NMSU Golf Course on Saturday, Oct. 28. The Kansas City men look to repeat as champions while the Utah Valley women will attempt a three-peat.
NCAA REGIONALS
The 2017 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country on Friday, Nov. 10. WAC teams will be represented in four locations. The West Region will be held in Seattle (Host: Washington), the Mountain Region will be held in Logan, Utah (Host: Utah State), the South Central Regional will take place in College Station, Texas (Host: Texas A&M) and the Midwest Region will take place in Ames, Iowa (Host: Iowa State).
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2017 Cross Country National Championships will take place in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 18, and is hosted by Louisville. The race will take place at E.P. Tom Sawyer Park.
SIX WAC CROSS COUNTRY TEAMS EARN USTFCCCA ALL-ACADEMIC HONORS
Two men's and four women's cross country teams from around the WAC were honored by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) as All-Academic Teams. The 2016 WAC Cross Country champion Kansas City men's team was one of two WAC teams honored after posting a 3.40 grade-point average. Seattle U was also recognized as the Redhawks held a 3.39 GPA.
On the women's side, Seattle U led all WAC schools with an impressive 3.66 team GPA. The Kansas City women were honored with a 3.52 GPA while NM State (3.49 GPA) and UT Rio Grande Valley (3.07 GPA) also received All-Academic honors.
Overall, there were 431 teams that earned distinction from the USTFCCCA for their efforts both athletically and academically. Of those 431 teams, 242 were women's and 189 were men's.