TicketSmarter WAC Cross Country Athletes of the Week Announced
DENVER – Utah Valley's Britain Reynolds 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 September 28 through October 4.
Reynolds, a junior from Valencia, Calif., helped lead the UVU men to a second-place finish at the highly competitive Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational. He took third overall in the 5-mile event as he traversed the course in 24 minutes, 27.1 seconds to post the fastest 5-mile time in the WAC this season. Among the 163 competitors, Reynolds outpaced runners from several regionally ranked squads including California Baptist, Cincinnati, IUPUI, Youngstown State and Ohio State.
Rono, a sophomore from Eldama Ravine, Kenya, ran her way to a first-place finish at the UIW Twilight, helping the Wildcats secure their second team win in as many events. Rono finished over 38 seconds ahead of the closest competitor, posting a time of 16:30.3 in the 3-mile race. In San Antonio, she bested runners from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Incarnate Word, UT Rio Grande Valley and others.
Other Men's Nominees: Abilene Christian's Levi Chambers landed an eighth-place finish at the UIW Twilight, posting a 5-mile time of 25:23.6… California Baptist's Ivo Balabanov led the Lancers to a first-place finish as he took fourth overall at the Joe Piane Invitational, running a time of 24:31.2 in the 5-mile race… NM State's Cole Shugart earned his first top-five finish in an Aggie uniform as he took fourth with a time of 24:44.0 on the 8K course… Seattle U's Giuliano Scasso placed seventh at the Charles Bowles Invitational as he turned in a faster 8K time (24:52.5) than all runners from a 22nd ranked Portland team… UT Rio Grande Valley's Abraham Chirchir turned in a third-place finish at the UIW Invitational, coming in just 1.3 seconds off the lead runner.
Other Women's Nominees: California Baptist's Greta Karinauskaite took second place in the Joe Piane Invitational Gold Race, reaching the finish line of the 5K course in 17:15.3… NM State's Richelle Sandin turned in the second-best 6K time (21:10.7) of her career to finish second overall at the Dave Murray Invitational… Seattle U's Rowan Cuadrado earned an 8th-place finish at the Charles Bowles Invitational, posting a time of 18:27.7 in the 5K event… UT Rio Grande Valley's Samantha Gonzalez managed a 13th-place finish at the UIW Invitational, finishing in 18:11.6 to lead the Vaqueros to a 5th-place team finish… Utah Valley's Caila Odekirk paced all Wolverines at the Joe Piane Invitational, finishing with a 5K time of 17:18.5.