Cal Poly's Andy Coughlin (Laramie, WY) and Idaho's Letiwe Marakurwa (Dorowa, Zimbabwe) were named the Big West Cross Country Male and Female Athletes of the Week after leading their teams to wins in the first meets of the 2004 season.

Coughlin emerged from a two-year hiatus to win the UCSB open with a time of 25:17:81 to outdistance teammate Blake Sweir by less than a second. The junior sat out last season with an injury, but did not show any rust on the eight-kilometer course. Coughlin finished in sixth place at the Big West Championships in 2002. Coughlin's performance helped the Mustangs defeat rival UC Santa Barbara by a 15-50 score in the dual meet.

Marakurwa set a course record at the Vandal Jamboree, running the 4K event in 14:15:80. That time broke the previous record by five seconds and she beat the closest competitor by 24 seconds. The senior led Idaho to a perfect score sweep of Washington State, Eastern Washington and Gonzaga, placing each of its top five runners before any runner of the other five schools. This is the third straight year that Marakurwa won the Vandal Jamboree and established a new course record.

Cal Poly returns to competition on Sept. 11 in the Fresno State Invitational. Idaho is next in action on Sept. 18 at the Sundodger Invitational in Seattle, Wash.