UC Santa Barbara's Mike Chavez and UC Irvine's Sara Mickelson have been named the Men's and Women's Cross Country Athletes of the Week, respectively.

Chavez, a senior from Anaheim, CA, was the top finisher for the Gauchos at the Stanford Invitational after completing the 8K course in 23:45, placing him fourth among 222 runners. His time helped UCSB finish just 14 points behind first place Stanford, the third-ranked team in the country. He also recorded the top 8K time in the Big West thus far this season.

Mickelson, a junior from El Segundo, CA, competed in the 6K race at the Stanford Invitational and finished fifth out of 124 competitors with a time of 20:34.

Her time is the best in the conference so far this season and led the Anteaters to a second place finish among the 17 squads in competition.

Big West Squads Move Up National and Regional Rankings

The Big West continues to make a move up the national and regional rankings as the schedule points toward the first weekend of October.

UC Santa Barbara’s women’s team continues to move into the upper echelon as the Gauchos are now ranked #9, a two-spot increase from last week’s poll. UCSB is also the second-ranked team in the West region. UC Irvine also shows up in the West Region poll at #12, while UC Riverside (13) and Long Beach State (14) are right behind the Anteaters. UCR's appearance in the regional poll last week marked the first time in the Highlanders Division I history that they have appeared in the poll.

Cal Poly broke into the men’s national poll for the first time this season as a ranked team as the Mustangs are slotted #30. They are also highly ranked in the West Region with a #6 position, while rival UC Santa Barbara is right behing Cal Poly at #7.

UC Irvine (12), UC Riverside (13) and Long Beach State (14) are also in the men’s West Region poll.