Vargas, Hackett Earn Final Weekly Cross Country Awards of 2017
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi freshman Isaac Vargas and Abilene Christian senior Michaela Hackett are the Southland Conference Cross Country Athletes of the Week, the league announced Tuesday. Southland Athletes of the Week are presented by
UniversalCoin.com.
All teams have now concluded their regular seasons and next head to Abilene, Texas, for the
2017 Southland Conference Cross Country Championships on Friday, Oct. 27.
Men’s Athlete of the Week: Isaac Vargas, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi – Fr. – Levelland, Texas
Vargas recorded his first meet win since coming to the Island, finishing a tenth of a second ahead of teammate Marek Spriestersbach and over 30 seconds faster than any other runner. The freshman finished first out of 50 competitors, clocking a final 8K time of 26:16.7 and pacing the Islanders to a third-place team finish out of six competing schools.
Honorable Mention: Enrique Soto, McNeese; Jamie Crowe, Lamar; Preston Borg, Central Arkansas; Joshua Wilkins, Northwestern State.
Women’s Athlete of the Week: Michaela Hackett, Abilene Christian – Sr. – Cranston, R.I.
Hackett led the Wildcats to a 18th-place team finish out of 43 schools at the NCAA DI Pre-National Meet in Louisville, Ky., including national powerhouses Oregon, Colorado, Arkansas and Utah State. Hackett finished 0.3 seconds behind Arkansas’ Carina Viljoen, clocking a final 6K time of 20:28.3. Her finish was 32nd out of 288 runners.
Honorable Mention: Taylor Dunn, Central Arkansas; Katja Woelfl, McNeese; Evelyn Chavez, Lamar.
Southland weekly award winners are nominated and voted upon by each school’s sports information director. Voting for one’s own athletes is not permitted. To earn honorable mention, a student-athlete must appear on 25 percent of ballots.