Oct. 2, 2007
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – New Mexico senior Jeremy Johnson was selected as the Mountain West Conference Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week, the league office announced this afternoon. It’s the second career Athlete of the Week award for Johnson, who also won last year on Sept. 12. UNM has had at least one men’s winner every year since 2004.
UNLV sophomore Charlotte Browning and Colorado State senior April Thomas were selected as the co-Mountain West Conference Women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week.
Johnson received the honor after finishing sixth in his season debut to lead the Lobo men’s team to a ninth-place finish in a loaded 15-team field on Sept. 29, at Oregon’s Bill Dellinger Invitational. Johnson defeated five cross country All-Americans and broke his own school record for an 8K course, completing the circuit at the Springfield Country Club in 23:39. The Albuquerque, N.M., native’s time is the fastest in the Mountain West Conference this year.
Browning, hailing from Addlestone, England, completed the 5K meter course in 17:32.20 at the Sept. 29 UC Riverside Invitational, good for ninth place overall. It was the best time for a UNLV harrier in program history, and the first time since 2000 that a Rebel runner bested the 18-minute mark. Browning’s time on the UC Agricultural Operations course in Riverside, Calif., earns her the front-runner position in the 5K distance for the MWC thus far in the season.
Thomas, from Aurora, Colo., finished fourth at the Bill Dellinger Invitational amongst a nationally elite field. Thomas ran the 6K leg in 20:27, leading the Rams to a fourth-place team finish, defeating two nationally-ranked teams and finishing within five points of No. 5 Arkansas. Her time leads the MWC this season in the 6K distance.