United Athletic Conference

 

UT Rio Grande Valley's Abraham Chirchir and Utah Valley's Mazzie Melaney Preston have been named the TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively, for August 31 through September 6.

 

Chirchir, a junior from Iten, Kenya, paced UTRGV in its first meet of the season, taking first place overall at the UIW Twilight to help the Vaqueros earn a third-place team finish. His time of 18:23.5 in the 6k was 14.1 seconds ahead of the next closest runner, leading a field of 74 runners from seven different programs. Chirchir's time also marks the fifth-fastest time in UTRGV history.

 

Preston, a junior from Farr West, Utah, opened her season with a strong outing as she won the individual 5k title at the UVU Invitational. She covered the course in a time of 17:56.8 to out-stride the other 49 competitors while helping lead Utah Valley to a first-place team finish. The Wolverines came in ahead of several strong teams, besting Utah, Southern Utah, Idaho State and Dixie State.

 

Other Men's Nominees: California Baptist's Ivo Balabanov came in as the Lancers' top finisher, finishing first in the 6k ( at the Anteater Opener in Irvine, Calif… Dixie State's Kevin Kirk finished 37th at the UVU Invitational with a 5k time of 15:44.1 to lead all Trailblazers… Grand Canyon's Landon Rast recorded a personal best time of 23:41.5 to finish sixth at the George Kyte Classic as he was the first Lope to cross the finish line… Seattle U's Giuliano Scasso notched a first-place finish as he was the only Redhawk runner to come in ahead of all runners from a 13th ranked Washington squad, crossing with a time of 20:26.11 in the 4-mile event… Utah Valley's Britain Reynolds picked up where he left off as he turned in a first place finish in the 5k (14:54.6) at the UVU Invitational.

 

Other Women's Nominees: California Baptist's Yasna Petrova came away with a first-place finish in her collegiate debut as she finished ahead of the pack in the 4k with a time of 14:06.8 at the Anteater Opener… Dixie State's Rylee Jacobsen turned in the Trailblazers' top performance last week as she finished 16th with a time of 19:24.4 in the 5k at the UVU Invitational… Grand Canyon's Hana Hall was the Lopes' top finisher with a 12th-place finish (16:44.8) in the 2.5 mile race at the George Kyte Classic… UT Rio Grande Valley's Samantha Gonzalez recorded a 15th-place finish for the Vaqueros as she finished with a time of 15:25.0 in the 4k.

 

Six WAC schools will be back in action this week as Lamar, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin take to the course on Friday and Tarleton, Utah Valley and Dixie State are set to race on Saturday. The trio of schools competing on Friday will all be competing in the 45th Rice Invitational in Houston. Meanwhile, both Utah Valley and Dixie State head to Provo, Utah, for the BYU Autumn Classic. Additionally, Tarleton will be running in the UTA Invitational in Arlington, Texas.

 

Five men's teams and four women's teams were listed in the USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Preseason 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 10th. Abilene Christian was the WAC's third school to land two programs inside the regional rankings as the Wildcats' men's team ranks 14th in the South Central Region and the women's team ranks 10th. Stephen F. Austin followed this trend as the Lumberjack men's and women's teams both came in at No. 13 in the South Central Region. Lamar also had its men's teams represented in the South Central Region as the Cardinals claimed the eighth 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 its 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 Grand 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.