United Athletic Conference

UT Rio Grande Valley's Abraham Chirchir and Dorcas Koech have been named the Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Sept. 30 through Oct. 6.

 

Chirchir, a sophomore from Item, Kenya, set a new season best in the WAC this season in the 8K, taking 11th at the 31st Annual Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark with a time of 24:09.3. The mark, which was his second-best career time, also ranked fourth-fastest in UTRGV men's program history. 

 

Koech, a sophomore from Kitale, Kenya, shattered the previous program record in the 5K at the 31st Annual Chile Pepper Festival. Running on the same course that UTRGV will race on for the NCAA South Central Regional in November, she finished the race in 17:10.7, breaking the program record by over 23 seconds and also establishing a new season-best in the WAC. By virtue of the strong performance, the Vaquero women moved up two spots to 12th in this week's USTFCCCA South Central Region rankings.

 

Other Men's Nominees: Kansas City's Ryan Parson led the Roos at the Rim Rock Classic, placing ninth in the 8K race with a time of 26:16.2 … Utah Valley's Kevin Lynch led the Wolverines to a team win in the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational Gold Race, covering the 5-mile course in 24:18.64 … Seattle U's Hamza Ali ran a competitive race at the John Payne/Curtis XC Invitational, taking 11th in the 8K with a time of 25:32.70.

 

Other Women's Nominees: Kansas City's Halley Dean took third at the Rim Rock Classic with a time of 23:25.8 in the 6K race … Seattle U's Olivia Stein won the John Payne/Curtis XC Invitational with a time of 17:23.70 on the course that was just shy of 5000-meters … Utah Valley's Maggie Zwahlen led the Wolverines as the prestigious Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational, running the 5K course in 17:35.96.

 

With the WAC Championships coming up next month, teams are beginning to pace themselves for a run at the trophies. Utah Valley is the only school scheduled to run this week as Wolverine head coach Scott Houle takes his team to Cedar City, Utah to take on older brother and Southern Utah head coach Eric Houle at the SUU Color Country Invitational.

 

Two men's teams and three women's teams were listed in the USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings. In the Mountain Region, the Utah Valley men moved up to 10th while on the women's side, UVU comes in at 12th. UT Rio Grande Valley is ranked 12th on the women's side in the South Central Region. In the West Region, the California Baptist men are ranked 10th and the women moved up one spot to sixth.

 

The 2019 WAC Cross Country Championships are headed to the Show-Me State and will be hosted by Kansas City. The event will take place at Swope Park. California Baptist will look for a second straight women's title while Utah Valley heads to KC as the defending champion on the men's side.

 

The 2019 Cross Country Regionals will be held at nine sites throughout the country on Friday, Nov. 15. WAC teams will be represented in four locations. The West Region will be held in Colfax, Wash. (Host: Washington State), the Mountain Region will be held in Salt Lake City (Host: Utah), the South Central Regional will take place in Fayetteville, Ark. (Host: Arkansas) and the Midwest Region will take place in Stillwater, Okla. (Host: Oklahoma State). 

 

The 2019 Cross Country National Championships will take place in Terre Haute, Ind. on Nov. 23, and is hosted by Indiana State. The race will take place at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.

 

A total of 11 WAC cross country teams were honored for their success in the classroom, as well as on the course, by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, earning Team Academic Awards.

 

Both the men and women from California Baptist, Grand Canyon, Kansas City, Seattle U and Utah Valley were honored. The NM State women also earned the academic award.

 

NM State had the top women's GPA among WAC schools at 3.67. Grand Canyon boasted the top GPA among the men's teams with a 3.63 mark. To qualify, a team must hold a combined cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.