BREANNA STEELE OF SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, a junior from Happy Valley, Ore., has been selected the SCAC Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week for meets ran Friday, October 4 and Saturday, October 5. SCAC Cross Country Release (Week 6)
Steele was the second D3 athlete overall and the fastest SCAC athlete to cross the line as she set a new 5k PR (18:18) on her way to a 33rd place finish in a competitive field of over 400 runners at the DBU Old Glory Gallup. Her performance led the Pirates to a 37 second improvement on team average time compared to this same meet last year.
Other outstanding performances in the SCAC:
Junior Alison Mueller-Hickler of Colorado College won the Ted Castaneda XC Classic and led her team to a perfect team score. Her winning time of 22:17 for the 6k was over a minute faster than she ran at this meet in 2023. Junior Gianna Keena of Trinity knocked 48 seconds off her previous 5k best time, set three weeks ago, running an 18:27 to place 45th out of over 400 runners at the DBU Old Glory Gallop. She led the team to a 12th place finish, the best D3 team finish out of 45 total programs. Her new PR lands her seventh place all-time in the Trinity record book. Junior Savanna Danner of McMurry paced the women's team in 19:00 for a 79th-place finish at the Old Glory Gallop. Sophomore Ashley Rivera of Concordia (Texas) posted a time of 21:09 in the 5k at the Old Glory Gallop hosted by Dallas Baptist University. The time set a new personal record for Rivera who led the Tornados at the event. First-year McKenna Emerson of Schreiner competed at the DBU Old Glory Gallup 5k over the weekend, running a personal best of 21:20 to lead the Mountaineers. Competing against many scholarship runners, first-year Ally Leonesio of Dallas posted a 5k PR time of 22:15 in the DBU Old Glory Gallop.
| SCAC Women's Cross Country Runners-of-the-Week |
|
| Week 1 | Josette Gurule, Trinity University |
| Week 2 | Alison Mueller-Hickler, Colorado College |
| Week 3 | Breanna Steele, Southwestern University |
| Week 4 | Isabel Olson, Colorado College |
| Week 5 | Chloe Weathers, University of the Ozarks |
| Week 6 | Breanna Steele, Southwestern University |
| Week 7 | |
| Week 8 | |
