CANTON, Ga. – Gracie West of Centre College has been named this seasons first Athelte of the Week for her performance this weekend.
Around the SAA:
Athlete of the Week:
Athlete:
Gracie West | Centre | SR | Louisville, Ky. – Gracie West had a fantastic senior cross country season debut this past weekend at the BC/CC Jamboree hosted on the Berea College Cross Country Course. It was a literal race to the finish for the win in the last 100 meters for West and three other competitors. She finished in fourth place overall with a new cross country personal best 5K time of 18:58, helping lead the Centre women to a second-place team finish behind NAIA powerhouse University of the Cumberlands.
Notable Performances:
- Ella Williams | Berry – Williams led the way for the Vikings at the Stormy Seas Opener finishing 18th out of 115 runners with a career best 20:04.99 in the 5k event.
- Claudia Dempsey | Millsaps | SO | Piedmont, Ala. – Dempsey paced the Majors at the City Auto Memphis Twilight XC Classic on Saturday. She placed 77th out of 112 NCAA, NJCAA and NAIA runners, with a personal-best 5K time of 21 minutes, 40.94 seconds, crushing her previous best by more than 80 seconds.
- Eleanor Graham | Sewanee | JR | Maryville, Tenn. – Graham placed fifth for the Tigers in the Mountainside Stride on Saturday, running a 25:01 at the Arboretum Nature Centre in Chattanooga.
- Isabel Sainz | Southwestern | SO | Yuma, Ariz. – She finished as the top runner this week running a 19:42 in hot and humid conditions. Her performance was a full two minutes faster than she raced on the same course at the meet last season, as well as thirty-one places higher. She led the Pirates to a third-place team finish atop all other DIII teams at the Stormy Seas Opener.
- Gianna Keena | Trinity | SR | Lakeway, Tex. – led the Tiger team to the fastest team average (14:44 for 4k) in program history at the UIW Twilight. Her time of 14:21 (5:46/mi) for the 4k is a PR by 26 seconds and she led the team to a fourth-place finish against Division I competition.
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