Oct. 6, 2009

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - New Mexico senior Jacob Kirwa and BYU junior Cecily Lemmon Lew have been selected as the Mountain West Conference men's and women's cross country athletes of the week, respectively.

Kirwa won his second consecutive race to lead the 24th-ranked Lobos to a fourth place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational in South Bend, Ind. The Eldoret, Kenya, native sprinted past an Arizona State All-American down the final stretch as New Mexico defeated four top-30 teams in the men's blue race. Kirwa finished the 8K course in 23:44.00, clocking the fastest time by a Lobo since Jeremy Johnson's program record time of 23:27.00 set in 2007. His victory was the first by a New Mexico runner in a road meet since 2004.

Lew, from Vacaville, Calif., finished first ahead of a field of 123 runners at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational, held in Verona, Wis., to earn her second individual victory of the year. She covered the 5K course in a third-best career time of 17:00.00, edging a No. 10 Illinois harrier by three seconds and breaking the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course record in the process. Lew led the No. 23 Cougars to a fourth place finish among 12 teams, seven of which were nationally ranked.