Utah State junior cross-country runner Kyle McKenna was named the Western Athletic Conference men’s Cross-Country Athlete of the Week for the period of Oct. 8-14; announced by the league office Tuesday.
This is the first career WAC Cross-Country Athlete of the Week honor for McKenna. But it is his second conference Athlete of the Week accolade as he also was named the WAC Outdoor Track Athlete of the Week on March 27, 2012.
McKenna, a native of Farmington, Utah (Viewmont HS), was the top finisher for the USU men and WAC with his 51st-place finish at the NCAA Pre-National meet at E.P ‘Tom’ Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky., last weekend. McKenna clocked in with a time of 24:03.9 in the 8K seeded men’s race as he competed against 272 runners from 40 different Division I teams, including No. 2 Colorado, No. 5 BYU and No. 8 Oregon. He also has been the top Aggie finisher at all four meets in 2012.
As a team, the USU women rank 12th in the Mountain Region in the latest United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association after finishing fourth in the unseeded portion of the NCAA Pre-National meet. The Utah State men rank 14th in the Mountain Region.
Action will continue for USU with the WAC Championships, which are being hosted by Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La., on Saturday, Oct. 27. The Aggie men will look to defend their 2011 title and win their seventh championship in the last eight years, while the USU women look to win their first WAC title since 2008 and third overall.
Doug Hoffman is the assistant athletic director for Utah State University Athletic Media Relations.