USTFCCCA National Athletes of the Week (Oct. 9)

NEW ORLEANS -- After a truly dominant effort racing against some of the best competition NCAA Division II has to offer this past weekend, graduate student Gatien Airiau has been named NCAA Division II National Athlete of the Week by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Airiau placed first in Lewis' Conference Cross-Over, a race that featured nearly 350 runners and eight nationally-ranked teams.

"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 first USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week honor for Airiau in his ART U career and the first by an Urban Knight cross country runner since Valentin Pepiot earned a selection on Sept. 29, 2014.