United Athletic Conference

California Baptist's Ivo Balbanov and Anna Mate have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for February 15 through February 21.

 

Balbanov, a senior from Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, reset his own school record in the 8k at the Battle Born Challenge, covering the course in 23:33.5 to take 14th in a talented field. The mark was nearly 10 seconds faster than his previous record, set earlier this season, and is the top time in the WAC this season by nearly seven seconds. As a team, the Lancers took sixth but finished ahead of 25th-ranked Colorado State, Wyoming and Nevada.

 

Mate, a junior from Kaposvár, Hungary, continued to lead both the Lancers and WAC, posting the conference's top 6k time with a time of 20:43.0 at the Battle Born Collegiate in Las Vegas. She finished 35th out of 102 runners in a talented field that featured several nationally-ranked teams.

 

Other Men's Nominees: Dixie State's Kevin Kirk finished fifth in the Battle Born Collegiate 'B' Race, setting a new PR with a time of 25:30.2 … NM State's Anekin Hetman led the Aggies in their lone meet of the regular season, taking 15th at the Dave Murray Invitational with a time of 25:44.2.

 

Other Women's Nominees: Dixie State's Madison Flippence recorded the seventh-fastest time in program history, taking 12th place in the Battle Born Collegiate 'B" Race with a time of 21:45 … NM State's Corinne Hanson posted a career-best fourth place finish at the Dave Murray Invitational, covering the 6k course in 21:48.7.

 

The NCAA Cross Country Championships will look a little different this spring. Instead of qualifying via NCAA Regionals, which will return this fall, teams will be selected by the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Track and Field and Cross Country Committee. The committee will select 31 at-large teams for both men and women and the top eligible individual finisher at each conference championship who is not part of a qualifying team will advance to the NCAA championship. The 2020-21 NCAA Cross Country Championships will be held on March 15 at OSU Cross Country Course in Stillwater, Okla.

 

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

 

Among those teams that received the award, both the men's and women's programs from California Baptist, Grand Canyon, Seattle U and Utah Valley were honored. The women's programs from NM State and UT Rio Grande Valley also earned recognition. In addition, WAC newcomer Tarleton was also honored at the Division II level with the Texans' men's team garnering the award.

 

For the second consecutive year, the CBU women's team claimed the highest grade-point average among WAC teams, posting a 3.726 cumulative GPA.

 

In total, 264 different women's programs and 199 different men's programs were honored across Division I.

 

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.

 

The Grand Canyon, Tarleton and Utah Valley men's teams each had one honoree as Grant Carpenter represented the Lopes, Larry Still earned recognition for the Wolverines, and Colton Troutman was honored for the Texans.

 

On the women's side, GCU had three representatives while two members of the Tarleton State team were recognized. The Lopes' Madelyn Lundberg, Alyson Schwartz and Niki Xydona earned the honor while Jasmine McQuirter and Kylee Ponder represented Tarleton.

 

Across Division I, 452 men and 659 women received honors.