INDIANAPOLIS – The weather has taken a full turn with autumn set in as Great Midwest Athletic Conference Cross Country Athletes of the Week honors continued on Tuesday.
 
Temperatures have dropped around the region as teams continue to get ready for the postseason. The Great Midwest Championships will be in Pepper Pike this year with Ursuline serving as host for the men’s 8K and women’s 6K races.
 
Men’s Athlete of the Week
Zach Fresenko
Malone
Junior
Louisville, OH (Louisville HS)
 
As a former conference freshman of the year, it’s hard to believe almost two years have elapsed since Fresenko’s rookie season.
 
The junior has helped Malone to No. 8 placement in the USTFCCCA regional rankings and the Pioneers have been nationally ranked throughout his career in Canton.
 
In a very large field at the Royals XC Challenge in North Carolina, Fresenko was Malone’s top finisher as the Pioneers finished fifth out 57 schools in the mix.
 
Fresenko averaged under five minutes per mile as he completed the course in 24:48.30 for an overall finish of 28th. The men’s numbers tallied 520 total competitors as MU finished only behind host Queens, Mount Olive, Lee and Charleston.
 
Women’s Athlete of the Week
Hannah Thompson
Malone
RS Senior
Canton, OH (GlenOak HS)
 
Thompson breezed to her third conference athlete of the week award after a record-setting performance at the Royals XC Challenge.
 
The Pioneers finished third in 5K team scoring as the redshirt senior ripped a page out of the history books and made them her own.
 
Thompson officially shattered the 5K conference record by running a time of 17:23.60, besting the mark from former Walsh standout Sarah Berger in her one season running in the league.
 
Thompson finished sixth out of 541 student-athletes running and beat out over 98 percent of the large field.
 
Thompson bettered Bergers’ previous Great Midwest best time of 17:25.40, which was recorded in 2017 at the Ric Sayre Invitational.