United Athletic Conference

Grand Canyon's Daniel Flores and Utah Valley's Hannah Branch have been named the Western Athletic Conference men's and women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 24 - 30.

 

Flores, a senior from Glendale, Ariz., led the Lopes for the second straight meet, finishing 18th at the Capital XC Challenge in Sacramento, Calif. He covered the 8k course in 24:46.5 to earn the top-20 finish and finish 18th among 267 runners. As a team, the Lopes took seventh among 25 schools competing. 

 

Branch, a sophomore from Draper, Utah, set a new WAC season-best in the 5k at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational while leading the Wolverines to a gold division team title. She placed seventh amongst 140 runners, covering the course in 17:37.08. As a team, UVU was first among 18 schools, including South Carolina, Saint Louis and Indiana State.

 

Other Men's Nominees: California Baptist's Simon Bedard again led the Lancers, taking 34th in the 8k at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis … NM State's Abel Ketema was the top finisher for the Aggies, taking 38th at the Capital XC Challenge in Sacramento … Utah Valley's Kevin Lynch took 27th at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, running the 8k course in 24:31.19.

 

Other Women's Nominees: California Baptist's Anett Somogyi led the Lancers and took fifth place at the Roy Griak Invitational with a 6k time of 21:35.9 … Grand Canyon's Paige Hildebrandt was fourth at the Capital XC Challenge with a 6k time of 21:34.0 to lead the Lopes to a third-place team finish … NM State's Jess Dominguez placed third in the 6k at the Capital XC Challenge with a personal best of 21:33.8.

 

Just two more weeks of regular season racing remain and just two schools will take advantage of the opportunity to run this weekend. Grand Canyon heads across the valley to Mesa for for the Thunderbird Classic while Utah Valley heads south to Cedar City for the SUU Coloro Country Invitational.

 

Two men's teams and three women's teams are among those recognized in the most recent USTFCCCA Regional Rankings. On the men's side, Utah Valley is 11th in the Mountain Region and UT Rio Grande Valley is 11th in the South Central Region. For the women, Utah Valley is 14th in the Mountain Region, UT Rio Grande Valley is 10th in the South Central Region and California Baptist moved up one spot to 13th in the West Region.

 

When UT Rio Grande Valley duo Abraham Chirchir and Mercy Chelangat won the Texas A&M Aggie Opener on Aug. 31, it marked the first time since prior to 2004 that UTRGV swept the men's and women's races at a meet. It was also UTRGV's first women's win since 2012.

 

The 2018 WAC Cross Country Championships are headed to Seattle and will be hosted by Seattle U. The event will take place at Jefferson Park Golf Course. The Kansas City men look for the three-peat as champions while the NM State women will look to defend their 2017 title.

 

The 2018 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country on Friday, Nov. 9. WAC teams will be represented in four locations. The West Region will be held in Sacramento (Host: Sacramento State), the Mountain Region will be held in Provo, Utah (Host: Brigham Young), the South Central Regional will take place in College Station, Texas (Host: Texas A&M) and the Midwest Region will take place in Peoria, Ill. (Host: Bradley). 

 

The 2018 Cross Country National Championships will take place in Madison, Wis. on Nov. 17, and is hosted by Wisconsin. The race will take place at Zimmer Championship Course.