WAC Cross Country Athletes of the Week Announced
DENVER – 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.