PacWest Cross Country Athletes of the Week (Oct. 10)

IRVINE, Calif. -- Following up his selection as USTFCCCA NCAA Division II National Athlete of the Week, graduate student Gatien Airiau has been named Pacific West Conference Runner of the Week for the second time this season. Airiau placed first in Lewis' Conference Cross-Over, a race that featured nearly 350 runners and eight nationally-ranked teams. The award was based on meets run Oct. 2-8.

"Gas ran a very smart race and beat some of the best in the country," said director of track & field/cross country Torrey Olson. "He has come so far since last year both in fitness and race savvy. It was a pleasure to watch."

For much of the 8k race, Airiau stayed with a pack of four from No. 3 Grand Valley State, No. 9 California Baptist, and Cedarville atop the collection of competitors. However, his final push was enough to vault him not only into first overall, but had him at 24:42.8 and nearly six full seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. His average mile pace was average mile pace was 4:58.3.

"It's a great feeling to win this race especially with that competition," said Airiau. "We did well as a team. I'm very focused on training well the next four weeks and we'll see what happens at conference and Regionals. This season is incredibly exciting and we are ready to fight to get one of the precious tickets for Nationals!"

This is the second PacWest Runner of the Week honor for Airiau this season after he earned the conference's first award of the season on Sept. 5.