SARASOTA, Fla.- New College of Florida cross country swept The Sun Conference weekly honors Monday, with Cole Fleming earning Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week and Rylie Yoachum being named Women's Cross Country Runner of the Week.
The honors come after Fleming and Yoachum each finished as the top NAIA runner in their respective races at Friday's Ed Holloway Classic, hosted by Florida Southern College at Holloway Park in Lakeland.
Fleming earned the conference's weekly honor for the second time this season after once again leading the NCF men. The junior completed the 8K course in 29:49.47 to place 50th overall, finishing as the top NAIA runner in the field.
Fleming's performance helped NCF finish 11th in the 14-team field with 281 points and an average time of 30:42. The Mighty Banyans finished ahead of Florida Polytechnic University, Lake-Sumter State and Edward Waters in a field that featured NCAA Division I and Division II competition.
The honor is Fleming's second of the season. He previously earned Sun Conference Men's Runner of the Week after winning the season-opening Panther XC Invitational. Fleming has now been NCF's top men's finisher in all four races this season.
Yoachum earned the first Sun Conference Women's Runner of the Week honor of her career and became the second Mighty Banyan woman to receive the award this season, joining Mireille Gomez. Gomez earned the honor following her runner-up finish at the season-opening Panther XC Invitational.
The freshman led the NCF women for the first time this season, completing the 6K course in 27:24.47 to place 56th overall. Like Fleming, Yoachum was the top NAIA finisher in her race.
Yoachum also continued to make significant progress during her freshman campaign, lowering her previous 6K time by more than 31 seconds.
With Yoachum joining Fleming, Gomez and the other Mighty Banyan weekly honorees this season, NCF continues to add to its conference recognition during the program's second season.
New College of Florida concludes its regular season Friday, Oct. 23, at the Coker Cobras XC Invitational hosted by Coker University.
