ATLANTA (September 13, 2023) – Coming off a successful home meet this past weekend at McFarland Park, the University of North Alabama cross country program earned recognition from the Atlantic Sun Conference by winning all four weekly awards this week, announced Wednesday.
 
Both of North Alabama's top finishers earned ASUN Runner of the Week awards, including junior Gracie Mathews on the women's side and graduate student Fedrick Kipyego on the men's side.
 
Meanwhile, a pair of true freshmen making their home debut earned ASUN Freshman of the Week honors, including women's runner Camille Etheridge and men's runner Brent Lyons.
 
All four of these runners aided the Lions in winning both UNA Invitational team trophies, marking back-to-back sweeps for the men's and women's program at this event. Additionally, all four runners are first time ASUN weekly honorees.
 
"Last weekend was a great and successful home meet, and I was happy to see our runners competing really well and pushing one another," said UNA first year head coach Evans Kiptoo. "That led to most of them achieving PRs (personal records). For our runners, getting recognition this week is good for our program as we continue to build this young team. It also serves as a motivation to our runners to work even harder."
 
Mathews earned her first collegiate win on Saturday, placing first with a time of 18:16.11 to break the tape. This set a new personal record by roughly 17 seconds, while marking the second straight week that Mathews has led the Lions. Mathews becomes the third ASUN Women's Runner of the Week from North Alabama, joining Kara Nix (March 2, 2021) and current teammate Beth Ann Tucker (Sept. 17, 2022).
 
Kipyego finished second at the UNA Invitational this past weekend, leading the Lions with a time of 25:09.55. The Lions took two of three podium spots with Brandon Lee finishing third. Kipyego's finish propelled the Lions to a three-point victory over West Florida in the team standings. This marks the sixth ASUN Men's Runner of the Week award for North Alabam all-time, as Kipyego joins Evan Allen and Peyton Ewoldt as past winners.
 
Making her UNA Invitational debut, Etheridge helped the Lions to a team victory with an 11th place finish. She crossed the line at 19:39.16 to give UNA back-to-back-to-back finishes after Emily Daniel crossed as the final scorer, putting some cushion on the lead. Etheridge is the fourth ASUN Women's Freshman Runner of the Week for UNA all-time, joining current teammates Janeth Jepkirui (2021) and Sage Betts (2020), as well as Lillian Humphries (2019), as past winners.
 
Also making his home debut, Lyons made a tremendous impact for the UNA men with an eighth-place finish at 26:04.97. Lyons edged West Florida's Nathan Deboutez by .04 seconds, serving as UNA's final scorer to secure the team victory and a top 10 finish. Lyons joins Evan Allen (2021) and current teammate Brandon Lee (2019) as past winners of this award from North Alabama.
 
This Friday, Sept. 15, the Lions will run at nearby John Hunt Park in Huntsville, Ala. for the Southern Showcase hosted by Jacksonville State. The meet begins with the men's race at 7:30 a.m. and the women's race at 8:20 a.m.
 
For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.