United Athletic Conference

 

Tarleton's Kevin Baez and Dixie State's Grace McLaughlin have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for October 5 through 11.

 

Baez, a junior from Vanderbilt, Texas, turned in the first individual victory of his career last week as he earned the top spot at the Ranger College Cross Country Invitational. Baez's time of 25 minutes, 49 seconds on the 8K course marked the seventh top-10 finish of his career. He has also finished sixth or better in each of Tarleton's three meets this fall.

 

McLaughlin, a sophomore from Rockford, Ill., posted a personal best at the Southern Utah Color Country Invitational to come away with a first-place finish last week. She completed the 4K course in 14:58.3 to help the Trailblazers to a second-place team finish. McLaughlin also outpaced runners from Southern Utah and a regionally-ranked Utah Valley squad.

 

Other Men's Nominees: Dixie State's Kevin Kirk won the men's 6K race at the SUU Color Country Invitational, finishing with a time of 19:06.8… Utah Valley's Max Burton led the way for the Wolverines last week, placing 13th at the SUU Color Country Invitational with a 6K time of 19:57.4.

 

Other Women's Nominees: Tarleton's Brooke Wendel posted a 5K time of 20:04.9 to claim her first individual victory, besting all runners at the Ranger College Cross Country Invitational… Utah Valley's Elizabeth Zwahlen notched a third-place finish at the SUU Color Country Invitational, traversing the 4K course in 15:16.5.

 

For most WAC programs, this week will serve as a final tune-up before lining up at WAC Championships in Riverside, Calif. This week's slate gets underway on Friday when both California Baptist and Utah Valley head to the site of the 2021 NCAA Championship to compete in the NCAA Pre-Nationals Meet in Tallahassee, Fla.

 

On Saturday, some of the Abilene Christian squad will be at the Bill Libby Invitational while the rest of the Wildcats will be at the Arturo Barrios Invitational in College Station, Texas. Joining ACU in College Station will be Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Tarleton, UT Rio Grande Valley and Lamar. The remaining programs in action this week will all be in Riverside, Calif., as California Baptist, Dixie State, Grand Canyon and NM State will run alongside each other at the Highlander Invitational.

 

Four men's teams and three women's teams were listed in the USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Week 3 Rankings. Both the men's and women's programs for Utah Valley were recognized in the Mountain Region as they each earned the 10th spot in their respective polls. California Baptist also has both programs ranked, with the men coming in at ninth in the West Region and the women slotted in 11th. Abilene Christian women's team claims the highest regional ranking among WAC schools as they sit in fourth in the South Central Region. Lamar had its men's teams represented in the South Central Region as the Cardinals claimed the ninth spot. Sam Houston's men made an appearance in the rankings for the first time this season as they are slotted in 15th in the South Central Region.

 

The 2021 WAC Cross Country Championships are set to take place at UC Riverside Agricultural Operations in Riverside, Calif. Last year, California Baptist completed the sweep as they claimed WAC titles on the men's and women's sides. This marked only the 10th time in WAC history that a school's men's and women's teams hoisted the WAC trophy. California Baptist also became just the fifth school in WAC history to achieve such a feat.

 

The 2021 Cross Country National Championships are set to return to their normal format and will take place in Tallahassee, Fla., on Nov. 20. The race is hosted by Florida State and will take place at Apalachee Regional Park.

 

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) announced its 2020 All-Academic Teams for the 2020 season and 10 different WAC schools were honored.

 

Among those teams that received the award, both the men's and women's programs from Abilene Christian, California Baptist, Seattle U, UT Rio Grande Valley and Utah Valley were honored. The women's programs from Grand Canyon, Lamar and NM State also earned honors. In addition, individual athletes from Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin were recognized. 

 

In order to earn honors, a team's cumulative GPA must be 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale.

 

Several individual student-athletes were also honored, earning All-Academic honors by holding a minimum 3.25 cumulative GPA and either finishing the season ranked in the top 96 nationally or in the top 48 in any championship relay event during the most recent indoor season or have participated in any round of the NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

 

WAC-newcomer Abilene Christian had three honored as Sean Germany, Jack Marshall and Avery Williams represented the Wildcats. GCU also had three honored with Jacob Lewis, Jesse Newman and Josh Onwordi as did Utah Valley, who had Caleb Furnell, Andre Jones and Isaac Manning earn honors. Sam Houston was recognized by Eric Callaway and Clayton Fritsch and Stephen F. Austin was represented by Chad Horstmann and Cord Neal. UT Rio Grande Valley was the final school to have a male athlete honored as Paul May earned recognition.

 

On the women's side, Abilene Christian led the way with six recognized as Ella Anttila, Annina Brandenburg, Payton Kirk, Irene Rono, Zoe Spinn and Taylor Toelen were recognized. GCU had five honored with Megan Fry, Paige Hildenbrandt, Madelyn Lundberg, Alyson Schwartz and Niki Xydona representing the Lopes. Stephen F. Austin was represented by the trio of Kayle Bizzell, Mathilde Coquillaud-Salomon and Nissi Kabongo. Three schools had two honored with NM State's Yemisi Oroyinyin and Terice Steen, Sam Houston's Alie Angelo and Halie Daniel and UT Rio Grande Valley's Desirea Buerge and Tamara Woodley all receiving the award. Lamar was represented by Parl Eelma and UVU's Hannah Branch earned honors

 

Across Division I, more than 850 men and 1,110 women received honors.