BENNINGTON, Vt. – The New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) announced on Monday its weekly award winners for the period ending October 2, 2016 Bennington College junior Annika Kristiansen (Keene, N.H.) being named the Runner of the Week for her performance representing Southern Vermont College.

Kristiansen had another SVC-leading performance at Saturday’s Keene State College Invitational, returning to her hometown for Southern Vermont. She crossed the line at 20:37 to take 16th overall in the highly-contested meet, coming just 14 seconds shy of her personal record. That time was also 1:02 faster than any 5k mark that she has posted this year. This is the second time this season that the Bennington junior has reeled in the Conference’s top weekly laurel.

Southern Vermont swept the women’s cross country awards for the first time this year as SVC senior Jordan Welch (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) was additionally named the NECC Rookie of the Week. She set a new personal-best time at Saturday’s Invitational to help the Mountaineers take fourth as a team. She was the fourth SVC runner to cross the line, coming in at 22:56 to break her previous PR by a staggering 3:05. That gave her a split time of 7:24 per mile on the 5000 meter course and helped her take the rookie honor for the second time this year.

Kristiansen, Welch and the Mountaineers are off this weekend to rest up and prepare for Western New England University’s Golden Bear Invitational taking place at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 15.

– #LetsGoSVC –