United Athletic Conference

 

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.

 

In what is a bit of an off week for most WAC programs, three schools will still be in action over the next seven days. Tarleton opens up the week as they compete in the William Graham Ranger College Invite in Ranger, Texas, on Friday. Meanwhile, both Utah Valley and Dixie State are set to run in the Southern Utah Color Country Invitational in Cedar City, Utah.

 

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.