Cross Country Sweeps Athlete of the Week Honors
9/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
FRISCO, Texas – Stephen F. Austin seniors Charles Mathenge and Samantha Ottman were named the Southland Conference Cross Country Athletes of the Week, presented by UniversalCoin.com, the league announced Tuesday.
The honor is the first of the season for both men’s and women’s runners at SFA. The recognition came after a tough race weekend at the OSU Cowboy Jamboree in Stillwater, Okla.
Mathenge finished the 8K course with a second place individual result (24:59.9), which helped boost his team to finish fourth in the meet. He was 26 seconds behind the 2015 NJCCA Cross Country Champion runner-up, #10 OSU’s Sylvester Barus. The two-time NCAA championship qualifier is just kicking off his senior season. Last year, Mathenge set school record for the 8K, and in 2014, he set the 10K record.
Ottman had an individual 6th place finish on the women’s 5K with a time of 18:35.8. She beat out two nationally and All-American recognized OSU runners. Her finish helped the Ladyjacks earn a fourth place showing out of seven teams. The senior was chosen for the Second Team All-Southland Conference in 2014, and as already put herself in a good position for later this season.
The Lumberjacks competed against eight different schools with some big names like Kansas State, Tulsa, and Oklahoma State. In a field of 164 runners, SFA outran a very diverse pack of West Texas A&M, Texas State, Abilene Christian, and Oral Roberts teams.
Other honorable mentions this week for the men’s were Enrique Soto from McNeese and Sean Chalmers from Lamar. For the women, the honorable mentions were Ktja Woelfl from McNeese and Jannika John from Lamar.
Stephen F. Austin will be back in action on October 7th for the Aggieland Open in College Station.
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