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DENVER - NM State's Abel Ketema and CSU Bakersfield's Angel Valdez have been named the Western Athletic Conference men's and women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 25-Oct. 1.
Ketema, a junior from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was the top finisher for the NM State men's team at the Sacramento Capital Cross Challenge, clocking in at 24.41.8. In his first 8k race as an Aggie, Ketema placed 12th out of 226 runners to lead the Aggies to a third-place finish. He posted an average mile time of 4:58.1.
Valdez, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif., finished first among 161 student-athletes at the Mustang Challenge in Santa Clarita, Calif., last weekend with a time of 17:34.8. She smashed her 5k personal best by 44 seconds while breaking the CSUB Division I record by four seconds. Valdez beat runners from UCLA, UC Irvine and CSUN for her 13th-consecutive race pacing the ‘Runners. With the 5k CSUB record, she now owns all three (4k, 5k, 6k) records for the cross country program.
Other Men's Nominees: Grand Canyon's Daniel Flores ran a 25:22 in the 8k at the Greater Louisville Classic to finish 128th ... Quinlan Moll of Kansas City finished fourth of 78 runners at the Rim Rock Classic with a 24:52.6 time in the 8k race ... Seattle U's Eli Boudouris finished eighth out of 155 runners at the Willamette Invitational with a time of 25:18.4 in the 8k course ... Alberto Herrera of UT Rio Grande Valley placed 26th of 330 runners at the Chili Pepper with a time of 3051.4 in the 10k race last Saturday.
Other Women's Nominees: Grand Canyon's Mariah Montoya ran a 17:57.79 in the 5k at the Greater Louisville Classic to finish 104th out of 328 runners ... Mia Jerman of Kansas City won her first collegiate race with a 21:77 finish in the 6k at the Rim Rock Classic last Saturday ... NM State's Crissey Amberg finished 13th out of 239 runners at the Capital Challenge with a time of 21:24.1 in the 6k course ... Olivia Stein of Seattle U finished third of 166 runners at the Willamette Invitational with a time of 17:44.6 in the 5k ... UT Rio Grande Valley's Krysta Martinez placed 87th out of 381 runners at the Chili Pepper, finishing the 5k with a time of 18:40.7.