Photo by: Christine French
Big West Names Hefflin Female Athlete Of The Year, Makau Female Freshman Of The Year
11/5/2014 9:09:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Irvine, CA—The Big West Conference doled out its end-of-season cross country awards Wednesday afternoon naming UC Riverside's Raquel Hefflin the female athlete of the year, and Faith Makau the female freshman of the year. Both awards are firsts for the Highlanders women's program in its Division I history.
Hefflin had a stellar senior season winning three races and finishing second in two others. She began the year winning the Nevada Twilight Classic in a course-record time of 14:06, earning U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division I National Women's Athlete of the Week and Big West Conference Female Athlete of the Week honors for her efforts.
After finishing second at the UC Riverside Invitational on September 13, the Compton, CA native placed second at the Stanford Invitational on September 27. She earned her second Big West Cross Country Athlete of the Week honor following that race, and earned a third after winning the Highlander Invitational on October 18 while setting a course record and new personal best 5k time of 16:46.6.
Hefflin then won the Big West Conference Championship on November 1 recording a school and personal-best 6k mark to become the first-ever UCR women's runner to win the league title.
Makau placed second on the team in every event this season trailing only behind Hefflin. The redshirt freshman recorded three top-10 finishes and five top-20 finishes including fifth place at the Big West Championship to earn All-Conference honors. She was the top overall freshman in the event recording a new personal-best 6k time of 20:48.8.
Click here to view the complete list of cross country honorees.
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Hefflin had a stellar senior season winning three races and finishing second in two others. She began the year winning the Nevada Twilight Classic in a course-record time of 14:06, earning U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division I National Women's Athlete of the Week and Big West Conference Female Athlete of the Week honors for her efforts.
After finishing second at the UC Riverside Invitational on September 13, the Compton, CA native placed second at the Stanford Invitational on September 27. She earned her second Big West Cross Country Athlete of the Week honor following that race, and earned a third after winning the Highlander Invitational on October 18 while setting a course record and new personal best 5k time of 16:46.6.
Hefflin then won the Big West Conference Championship on November 1 recording a school and personal-best 6k mark to become the first-ever UCR women's runner to win the league title.
Makau placed second on the team in every event this season trailing only behind Hefflin. The redshirt freshman recorded three top-10 finishes and five top-20 finishes including fifth place at the Big West Championship to earn All-Conference honors. She was the top overall freshman in the event recording a new personal-best 6k time of 20:48.8.
Click here to view the complete list of cross country honorees.
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