Utah State’s Trevor Ball and UC Santa Barbara’s Lauren Christman were named the Big West Conference Cross Country Athletes of the Week on Wednesday after posting the conference’s best performances of last week’s competition (Oct. 16).

Ball, a junior from Hyrum, Utah, competed in only his second meet of the year, finishing in 22nd place with a time of 24:27.7 at the NCAA Pre-Nationals in Terre Haute, Ind. on Saturday, Oct. 16. He was the top Big West Conference finisher on the 8K course, and helped propel Utah State to a 14th place finish. Ball improved his time by 68 seconds from his previous appearance on Sept. 25, and becomes the first Aggie to earn Big West Athlete of the Week honors this season.

Christman, a junior from Santa Cruz, Calif., earned Athlete of the Week accolades for her 14th place finish at the NCAA Pre-Nationals on Saturday with a time of 20:57.4 on the 6K course. Christman’s time is tops in the Big West Conference so far this season, and set the best performance ever by a UC Santa Barbara female at the NCAA Pre-Nationals. Her time helped lead the Gauchos to an eighth place finish in a field of 36. Christman has finished in the top 15 in a race three times this season, and earns Big West Athlete of the Week honors for the second time (Sept. 29).