For the first time since 2014, CSU men’s and women’s cross country swept the weekly awards in the Mountain West. CSU’s Darby Gilfillan and Trent Powell were named the and women’s and men’s Mountain West Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively. It is the first time that either athlete has won the award.
Gilfillan was the top collegian in the CSU Duals women’s 5K with a time of 17:35. Colorado’s Brianna Schwartz and Madie Boreman were the only other athletes to finish within two seconds of Gilfillan with a time of 17:37.
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With the help of Gilfillan, the Rams secured second place behind preseason No. 1 Colorado and far ahead of other in-state rival and preseason No. 29 Air Force. Gilfillan finished above NCAA track & field champions Sage Hurta and Dani Jones, as well as All-Americans Boreman and Makena Morley.
On the men’s side, Powell clocked a time of 14:52 finishing above every runner from Air Force and All-American runners Joe Klecker and Zach Perrin from the University of Colorado. Powell increased his personal best 5K time by 25 seconds to finish second among 120 runners (including unattached entries.)
CSU cross country will return to action on Saturday Sept. 23 at the Roy Griak Invitational. Hosted by the University of Minnesota, the event will take place at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn.
Collegian sports reporter Evan Grant can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @EvanNGrant.
