BENNINGTON, Vt. – Southern Vermont College men's cross country junior Herson Canta (Eagle Rock, Calif.) has been named the New England Collegiate Conference Runner of the Week for the week ending September 15, 2013.

Canta led SVC with a 2nd-place finish at the College's Mountaineer Invitational on Saturday, finishing with a time of 18:09 on the challenging 5K mountain-side course. That helped propel the team to a 3rd-place overall finish for the day. He was in the top of the pack for the entirety but was able to get ahead a few places in the final mile to secure the runner-up finish.

Canta and the Mountaineers use a shortened week to prepare for Friday afternoon's Saratoga Invitational hosted by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.