Conference Athletes of the Week

CURRELL AND PLATT SWEEP WEEKLY CONFERENCE HONORS

CEDAR CITY, Utah – Nov. 14 – Southern Utah harriers Mark Currell and Sharla Platt were named the Summit League Athletes of the Week after their performances at the NCAA Mountain Regionals over the weekend.  The award is Currell’s fourth of the season and Platt’s second.

Currell captured his fourth Cross Country Male Athlete of the Week award this season after running a 31:33 10K time at the NCAA Mountain Regionals in Ogden, Utah last week. The time was good enough for 31st place in the 106-competitor race. He finished in the top one-third of the race and ran the second fastest time on the Ogden course in SUU school history.

Platt earned her second Cross Country Female Athlete of the Week award after receiving SUU’s first-ever female at-large individual selection into the NCAA Championships. She is also the only female runner from the Summit League to qualify. Her time of 21:27 placed her 18th in the field of 118 runners at the NCAA Mountain Regionals. It was the second-best place by a Thunderbird runner at an NCAA regional competition in school history.

Platt will travel to Terre Haute, Ind. and compete for an individual championship when the gun sounds at the NCAA Cross Country Championships on Monday, Nov. 19.

CURRELL NAMED SUMMIT LEAGUE ATHLETE OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER

CEDAR CITY, Utah – Nov. 8 – Southern Utah harrier Mark Currell was named the Summit League Athlete of the Month after a strong final month of the cross country season, including an individual title at the Summit League cross country championships.

Currell earned the Men’s Athlete of the Month honors after being named Summit League Athlete of the Week three times during the month. He was also named Summit League Athlete of the Year due to his first-place finish at The Summit League Championships. Currell set a course record with his 24:47 finish in Macomb, Ill. During the month, he also finished in the top quarter of the field at the NCAA Pre-Nationals with an SUU school record on the 8K course (24:14). This season, the senior has recorded four first-place finishes in six races, including taking the title at the UC Riverside Invite, when he broke the school record with a time of 24:07 on the 8K course.

Currell and the Thunderbirds compete in the NCAA Rocky Mountain Regional this Saturday, Nov. 10, in Ogden, Utah.

CURRELL GARNERS SECOND WEEKLY CONFERENCE AWARD

CEDAR CITY, Utah – Oct. 16 – SUU harrier Mark Currell picked up his second Summit League Athlete of the Week award after a solid showing at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind. over the weekend.

Currell continued his strong season by running a course-record time for Southern Utah on the site of the 2007 NCAA Cross Country Championships with a 24:14 finish.  The time would have broken the school record on an 8k course if Currell had not broken the mark two weeks earlier.  The time was good enough for a top-quarter finish in the 273-athlete field.

The Thunderbirds will travel to Macomb, Ill. during the final weekend of October in the hunt for the Summit League title.  The conference championships are scheduled for Oct. 27.

CURRELL RUNS AWAY WITH WEEKLY CONFERENCE HONOR

CEDAR CITY, Utah – Oct. 2 – Southern Utah senior Mark Currell was named the Summit League Cross Country Athlete of the Week after his performance at the UC Riverside Invitational over the weekend.  The award is the first for Currell this year and third for a Thunderbird this season.

Currell garnered the conference honor for his first-place performance at the meet, setting a new school record in the process.  His time of 24:07 on the 8k course was eight seconds faster than the previous school record and 59 seconds faster than his previous season-best time. The finish also ranks him first in the Summit League by 36 seconds over teammate Cameron Levins.

The Thunderbirds will have this weekend off before the teams split for competition at the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet in Terre Haute, Ind. and SUU’s lone home meet of the season in the Color Country Invitational on Oct. 13.

THUNDERBIRDS SWEEP WEEKLY CONFERENCE HONORS

CEDAR CITY, Utah - Sept. 11 - Southern Utah junior Sharla Platt and freshman Cam Levins have been named the Summit League cross country Athletes of the Week after their performances at the UC Irvine Invitational over the weekend.

Levins takes home the Summit League Men’s Cross Country Athlete of the Week award after finishing sixth out of 195 runners last weekend at the UC Irvine Invitational. He crossed the line in 24:44, the fastest 8K time in the Summit League this season. The freshman helped his Thunderbird teammates place second out of 20 teams competing in the invitational.

Platt earns the Female Athlete of the Week award after posting a time of 17:57 in the 5K UC Irvine Invitational last weekend, which propelled her into third place at the race. She helped pace Southern Utah to a fourth-place finish out of 12 women’s teams. In addition, her time is the fastest time by 30 seconds thus far in the Summit League.

Southern Utah will be back in action this weekend when the Thunderbirds travel back to California of for the Aztec Invitational.