A Third League Honor for Lemmon-Lew

COLORADO SPRINGS -- Following another dominant performance in her third race of the season, BYU junior Cecily Lemmon-Lew was named the Mountain West Conference Female Cross Country Athlete of the Week for the third time of the 2009 campaign.

The Vacaville, Calif., native came in second place out of 267 runners at the Chile Pepper Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., to lead the No. 21 Cougars to a second-place finish. She covered the 6K course in a career-best 20:32.5, just one second behind the lead runner from Texas Tech. The mark also ranks first in the league’s season best times list for 6K events.

“I was really happy with the race and excited for how the team ran,” Lemmon-Lew said. “The race was a good preparation for the conference race and the postseason competitions. We’re improving in every race.”

It was the second time this season she has finished in second place with her only other race resulting in a first-place finish two weeks ago at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational. The Cougars ended up with 77 points and beat No. 26 SMU and No. 12 Baylor, falling only to No. 20 Texas Tech.

“Cecily’s race was very impressive,” said BYU women’s cross country head coach Patrick Shane. “Even though she wasn’t feeling well, she battled hard and learned how she can improve for future races. She’s a very talented runner and I’m proud of her.”

The BYU cross country program has tallied six MWC Athlete of the Week awards this season. Along with Lemmon-Lew’s three, sophomore Katy Andrews has one while sophomore Miles Batty has won it twice for the men's team.

New Mexico’s Jacob Kirwa won his second Athlete of the Week award for his 7th-place finish at the Pre-Nationals Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.

Mountain West Conference Cross Country Athletes of the Week
Date           Men                                Women
Sept. 8     Miles Batty, So., BYU              Ellie Rastall, So., Colorado State
Sept. 15    No Selection                       No Selection
Sept. 22    Miles Batty, So., BYU              CecilyLemmon-Lew                   Sept. 29    Justin Tyner, Jr., Air Force       Katy Andrews, So., BYU
Oct. 6      Jacob Kirwa, Sr., New Mexico       Cecily Lemmon Lew, Jr., BYU
Oct. 13     Jeremy Drenckhahn, Fr., Air Force  Rachel Williams, Sr., SDSU
Oct. 20     Jacob Kirwa, Sr., New Mexico       Cecily Lemmon Lew, Jr., BYU