United Athletic Conference

Utah Valley's Aisha Graham-Perez have been named the Western Athletic Conference Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 1 - 7.

 

Graham-Perez, a senior from Katy, Texas, was the Wolverines' top finisher at the SUU Color Country Invitational in Cedar City, Utah. She recorded an eighth place finish in the 4k with a time of 15:15 to help the Wolverines place third as a team. Her mark is the fourth-fastest 4k time in the WAC this season.

 

Other Nominees: NM State's Kelli Kirkpatrick was the first Aggie across the finish line at the SPC Cross Country Invitational, taking 11th in the 5k with a time of 20:08.4.

 

It's the final week of the regular season and all nine schools will be on the course. On Friday, Chicago State and Kansas City will get a preview of the NCAA Midwest Regional course at the Bradley Pink Classic in Peoria, Ill. On Saturday, California Baptist, CSU Bakersfield, Grand Canyon and Seattle U will all be running at the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara, Calif. NM State will be racing at the Highlander Classic in Riverside, Calif. while UT Rio Grande Valley heads to College Station, Texas for the Arturo Barrios Invitational. Finally, Utah Valley heads to the site of the 2018 NCAA Championship, running in the Wisconsin Pre-Nationals in Madison, Wis.

 

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.