BENNINGTON, Vt. – The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) announced its weekly award winners for the period ending September 26, 2016 on Monday with Southern Vermont College sophomore Stephen McCall (Brockton, Mass.) being named the Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week.

McCall ran his first 8k of the year on Saturday, registering his first 8k as a Mountaineer while leading the team at Williams' Purple Valley Classic. Against a challenging field that included 284 runners from all three divisions, he logged a time of 28:12 for a split pace of 5:40 per mile.

Saturday was also McCall's first time racing since September 3. This is the first time he's receiving the league's Runner of the Week honor after he picked up the NECC Rookie of the Week laurel three times last year at Regis College.

McCall was joined in collecting Conference accolades by SVC freshman Davante Smith (Ellenville, N.Y.) who was tabbed the NECC Rookie of the Week for the second-straight period. That marks the fourth-straight week that Southern Vermont has swept the league's men's cross country awards.

McCall, Smith and the Mountaineers are back in action this Saturday, October 1 with an 11:15 a.m. start at the Keene State Invitational.

– #LetsGoSVC –