United Athletic Conference

 

California Baptist's Florian Le Pallec and Abilene Christian's Irene Rono have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for Oct. 12 through 18.

 

Le Pallec, a senior from Kervignac, France, picked up his second athlete of the week award as he finished 30th in one of the strongest fields of any event this season. Le Pallec traversed the 8K course at the Florida State Invitational/Pre-Nationals Meet in just 23 minutes, 29.1 seconds to record the fastest 8K time in the WAC this year and the fastest 8K time in Lancer history. Le Pallec helped California Baptist finish 14th among a field that included a total of 12 ranked squads.

 

Rono, a sophomore from Eldama Ravine, Kenya, turned in the best performance of her season on Saturday as she posted a second-place finish at the Arturo Barrios Invitational. Her 6K time of 20:31.1 marks the second-fastest time in the WAC this year and was good enough to earn bronze in an extremely competitive field of 265 runners from 33 different programs.

 

Other Men's Nominees: Grand Canyon's Jacob Lewis produced a GCU school record last week, posting an 8K time of 24:02.9 to finish third at the Highlander Invitational… Lamar's George Wheeler was the WAC's top finisher at the Arturo Barrios Invitational as he finished just 6.1 seconds off the lead to come in third place… Seattle U's Giuliano Scasso finished 20th in a field of 301 runners at the Lewis & Clark Invite, recording an 8K time of 24:41.3… Tarleton's Kevin Baez came away from the Arturo Barrios Invitational with an 8K time of 24:25.90 to place 37th out of 251 competitors… UT Rio Grande Valley's Abraham Chirchir notched his best 8K time since 2019 as he took 41st at the Arturo Barrios Invitational, finishing with a time of 24:31.3... Utah Valley's Max Mahon helped lead the Utah Valley men to a 19th place finish at the Florida State Invitational/Pre-Nationals Meet in Tallahassee, Fla.

 

Other Women's Nominees: California Baptist's Greta Karinauskaite took 57th at the Florida State Invitational/Pre-Nationals Meet as she turned in a time of 20:44.8 in the 6K event… Grand Canyon's Hana Hall ran a personal best time of 21:44.8 to place 36th at the Highlander Invitational… Lamar's Yasmin Austridge was 98th in a strong field at the Arturo Barrios Invitational, finishing with a 6K time of 22:24.2… NM State's Emily Stutesman covered the 6K course at the Highlander Invitational in 21:01.9 to come across as the WAC's top finisher in the event… Seattle U's Emily Harris matched the Redhawks' men's top finisher with a 20th-place finish at the Lewis & Clark Invite… Tarleton's Brooke Wendel finished with a time of 22:52.70 on the 6K course at the Arturo Barrios Invitational… UT Rio Grande Valley's Samantha Gonzalez finished in the top half of runners at the Arturo Barrios Invitational, posting a 6K time of 22:28.6… Utah Valley's Caila Odekirk was the Wolverines' top finisher at the Florida State Invitational/Pre-Nationals Meet as she placed 61st with a 6K time of 20:47.4.

 

Utah Valley will be the lone program in action in the final week before the WAC Championships. The Wolverines will head to Salt Lake City to get in one last competition before they are put to the test in Riverside, Calif.

 

Four teams on both the men's and women's sides were listed in the USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Week 5 Rankings. Both the men's and women's programs for Utah Valley were recognized in the Mountain Region as the men were ranked 10th while the women came in at ninth. California Baptist also has both programs ranked, with the men coming at seventh in the West Region and the women slotted in seventh. Abilene Christian women's team claims the highest regional ranking among WAC schools as they climbed to second 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 remained in the rankings as they are slotted in 15th in the South Central Region. Meanwhile, the NM State women's team jumped into the regional rankings for the first time this season, landing in 13th in the Mountain 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.