United Athletic Conference

 

Lamar's George Wheeler and Nia Clatworthy have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for September 7 through September 13.

 

Wheeler, a sophomore from Milton Keynes, England, defended his title at the Rice Invitational from 2019 with a first-place finish in this year's event. Wheeler paced the 98-man field with a time of 18 minutes, 43.3 seconds in the 6.4k race. Wheeler's top placement also helped Lamar notch a third-place team finish among 12 schools, including Rice, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Sam Houston, Houston and Stephen F. Austin.

 

Clatworthy, a freshman from Wales, U.K., paced all Cardinal runners in the Rice Invitational on Friday. She posted a time of 14:13.9 in the 4k race to come across in seventh place among a field of 83 total runners. This marks the third-fastest 4k time in the WAC this season. Clatworthy was also the top WAC finisher at the meet as both Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin also participated in Houston.

 

Other Men's Nominees: Dixie State's Kevin Kirk led the DSU men with a 7.5k time of 23:56.0 to place 20th overall at the BYU Autumn Classic… Sam Houston's Andrew Bosquez placed third at the 45th Rice Invitational as he covered the 6.4k course in 18:47.5… Tarleton's Kevin Baez turned in a fourth-place finish at the UT Arlington Invitational, finishing with a time of 14:58.4 to lead all Texans in the 3.12-mile event.

 

Other Women's Nominees: Tarleton's Jenna Brazeal notched a 15th-place finish as she completed the 3.12-mile course at the UT Arlington Invitational in 18:57.8… Dixie State's Madison Flippence was the Trailblazers' top finisher at the BYU Autumn Classic, finishing 15th in the 5k race with a time of 18:49.0.

 

Seven of the 13 WAC schools will be taking to the courses this week, beginning with Chicago State on Friday as they head to East Lansing, Mich., to compete in the Spartan Invitational. The remaining six schools will be in action on Saturday with both California Baptist and Dixie State taking part in the UC Riverside Invitational. Abilene Christian and NM State will each be hosting their own event as the Wildcats run in the ACU Naimadu Classic and the Aggies get ready for the Lori Fitzgerald Open. Utah Valley is set to take a trip to Stillwater, Okla., to race in the OSU Cowboy Jamboree while UT Rio Grande Valley is scheduled to participate in the West Side Classic in San Antonio.

 

Four men's teams and three women's teams were listed in the USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Week 1 Rankings. Both the men's and women's programs for Utah Valley were recognized in the Mountain Region as the men ranked ninth and the women ranked eighth. California Baptist also has both programs ranked, with the men coming in at eighth in the West Region and the women slotted in 11th. Abilene Christian was the WAC's third school to land two programs inside the regional rankings as the Wildcats' men's team ranks 15th in the South Central Region and the women's team ranks 12th. Lamar also had its men's teams represented in the South Central Region as the Cardinals claimed the 12th spot.

 

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.