INDIANAPOLIS – A pair of repeat winners were selected for Great Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s & Women’s Cross Country Athletes of the Week prizes on Tuesday afternoon.
The past weekend of competition represented the final tune-up for schools as they prep for the Great Midwest Championships for Saturday, Nov. 3, at GlenOak High School in Canton, Ohio.
Most teams were in the field at the Slippery Rock-hosted Pre-Nationals event in both the 6K women’s and 8K men’s distances. Six Great Midwest schools on the men’s side and four more were participating in the women’s race.
Conference teams acquitted themselves quite well as No. 16-ranked Walsh finished as women’s team runner-up and No. 18 Hillsdale came in third.
Likewise, No. 21 Malone, No. 16 Walsh, Cedarville and Hillsdale, were stacked in order from 4th to 7th in a strong 29-team field for the men’s scoring.
Walsh is the defending men’s conference champion while Hillsdale is aiming to repeat on the women’s side from their 2017 accomplishments.
Men’s Athlete of the Week
Joseph Humes
Hillsdale
Junior
Maybee, MI (Milan HS)
Humes keeps marching on to the beat of his own drum and so far, it has been a pace that the rest of the conference has been unable to keep up with to this point.
Humes, already the current conference record holder in the 8K and 5K distances, picked up his third weekly accolade of the season with a strong result at the Pre-Nationals meet.
Just a junior, Humes is firmly in the debate for the best runner in Great Midwest conference history. And there have been some really good ones to come through since the 2012 season.
The top three runners in the field were all from No. 3 Colorado School of Mines, but Humes placed fourth overall with a strong time of 25:17.00.
He averaged 5:06 per mile to edge out another conference rival, two-time athlete of the week George McCartney, who placed seventh.
Humes helped Hillsdale to a seventh-place finish as he clocked one of the top-20 times around the league this fall.
Women’s Athlete of the Week
Brianna Coy
Walsh
Senior
Canton, OH (GlenOak HS)
Walsh only finished behind No. 6-ranked Colorado School of Mines in the final scoring, an indication the Cavaliers are a serious player for some NCAA Championship hardware in the postseason.
Coy helped lead the charge as Walsh placed four runners in the top-25 finishers (Claire Robertson, Andra Lehotay, Alyssa Viscounte).
Coy crossed the finish line third with a time of 22:05 only behind redshirting Malone runner Hannah Thompson and Leah Hanle from No. 23 Mount Olive.
Coy already owns the top time in the league this year in the 6K and this is her second conference weekly honor of the season. The 22:05 represents the third-fastest time in the league this year.
Coy will be competing in her own backyard in the comfy confines at GlenOak High School for the upcoming conference meet. The senior standout attended GlenOak before committing to run for coach Rob Mizicko at Walsh.