BENNINGTON, Vt. — Southern Vermont College junior captain Shelby Whitman (Bennington, Vt.) has once again been selected as the New England Collegiate Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week, this time for the period ending September 27, 2015 as announced by the league on Monday.

Whitman crossed the line second for the SVC women’s side on Saturday, placing 15th overall in a tough field at the Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams College. The junior captain took 1:47 off of her time from a week earlier to put up a season-best mark of 21:23.4 (6:54/mile) on the 5k course. This is her second NECC Runner of the Week honor this season and sixth in her Southern Vermont career.

Joining Whitman in garnering Conference recognition is classmate Justin Ferguson (Broadalbin, N.Y.) who picked up the NECC Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week laurel. Ferguson finished first for Southern Vermont at Saturday’s Purple Valley Classic, taking 29 seconds off his time from a week earlier for a season-best mark of 26:52.7. That resulted in the junior posting a split time of 5:25 per mile on the 8k course and being honored with the Conference accolade for the third time this season.

Whitman and the women’s team is next scheduled to run at the Keene State College Invitational this Saturday, a 5k slated to start at 11 a.m.