BENNINGTON, Vt. – Two members of the Southern Vermont men’s cross country team were awarded with New England Collegiate Conference accolades for the week ending October 14, 2012.  Sophomore captain Victor Velazquez (Los Angeles, Calif.) has been named the NECC Runner of the Week, while freshman Joshua Ceasar (Bardstown, Ky.) received the NECC Rookie of the Week award.

                Velazquez ran a personal-best 30:22.84 on Saturday at the Western New England Golden Bear Invitational in Springfield, Mass.  He placed 111^th in the 204-runner field.  That time is good enough to land him at 10^th on the SVC all-time top ten list.  He was 3:01 faster than he was at the same course a year ago.

                Ceasar led the Mountaineers with an 18^th-place finish at the Golden Bear Invitational, running the 8K in a time of 27:41.59.  That personal-best was also good enough for second all-time for an SVC men’s runner.  This is the second time this season that Ceasar has received the Rookie of the Week honor.