WAC Cross Country Athletes of the Week Announced
DENVER – UT Rio Grande Valley's Abraham Chirchir and Mercy Chelangat have been named the Western Athletic Conference men's and women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 17 - 23.
Chirchir, a freshman from Iten, Kenya, took second in the 8k at the Texas A&M Invitational. His time of 23:51.83 is fastest for the distance in the WAC this season and ranks him ninth nationally among freshman according to FloTrack. He was just 8.55 seconds behind the winner as he helped lead the Vaqueros to a fourth-place team finish among 14 teams.
Chelangat, a freshman from Kericho, Kenya, won the 6k at the Texas A&M Invitational with a time of 21:14.03. The mark set a new UTRGV record in the distance and she was over a half-minute quicker than the second-place finisher. As a team, the Vaqueros took third out of 13, finishing ahead of several regionally ranked programs.
Other Men's Nominees: Seattle U's Nathan Pixler paced the Redhawks at the Oregon Bill Dellinger Invitational, running the 8k course in 25:47.2 to finish 17th among 44 runners.
Other Women's Nominees: Seattle U's Megan Delorey led the Redhawks at the Oregon Bill Dellinger Invitational, taking 35th in the 6k with a time of 22:21.6.