The Coast-To-Coast Athletic Conference (C2C) has announced its 2023 cross country weekly awards. UC Santa Cruz's Casey Orton earned C2C Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week distinction, while Salisbury's Alyssa Santoro claimed C2C Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors.

MEN'S RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Casey Orton, UC Santa Cruz

Led UC Santa Cruz by placing 10th overall (fourth among college runners) with a time of 25:06.1 at the Pacific Invitational in Lodi. The Banana Slugs placed first in the 8K event, defeating four Division I schools. It was the first regular season Cross Country title for UC Santa Cruz since 2019.

WOMEN'S RUNNER OF THE WEEK: Alyssa Santoro, Salisbury

Alyssa Santoro won her first career cross country race by breaking the tape at the Don Cathcart Invitational (6K) in Salisbury on Saturday. Santoro crossed the finish line in a season-best time of 22:30.6 as the Sea Gulls took the team title.

HONORABLE MENTION

MEN: Austen Cave, Salisbury; Daniel Ferrante, Christopher Newport; Nicholas Smerlis, Mary Washington

WOMEN: Riley Martel-Phillips, UC Santa Cruz; Madi Rawlings, Christopher Newport; Grace Pippin, Mary Washington; Weronika Swojak, Warren Wilson

C2C HIGHLIGHTS

Austen Cave earned a second-place finish to lead Salisbury at home at the Don Cathcart Invitational on Saturday. Cave crossed the finish line after 8K in a season-best 25:29.6… Daniel Ferrante led Christopher Newport in the 8k at the 49th Annual Paul Short Run held Saturday at Lehigh University. During the race, he finished 14th overall in 26:18.7… Freshman Nicholas Smerlis was Mary Washington's top performer at the Don Cathcart Invitational on Saturday, finishing fifth overall on the 8K course with a time of 25:51… Riley Martel-Phillips ran the 6K in 21:59 to finish 11th out of 98 runners to lead UC Santa Cruz at the Pacific Invite in Lodi. Helped the Banana Slugs place third out of nine schools in a field predominantly of Division I and II runners… Madi Rawlings led Christopher Newport in the 6k at the Paul Short Run after finishing the race in 23:31.8. That placed her 21st overall in the field… Senior Grace Pippin was Mary Washington's top finisher at the Don Cathcart Invite at Salisbury on Saturday. She finished the 6K course in seventh place overall, at 23.56.90… Weronika Swojak joined the Warren Wilson cross country squad last week and proceeded to lead the Owls at the Maryville Invite on Saturday.  Swojak, who is also on the basketball team, placed sixth out of 40 runners with a time of 27:55 in the 6K event.

PREVIOUS HONOREES

Sept 5: MEN: Matt Grossi (SU), WOMEN: Madi Sisson (SU)

Sept 18: MEN: Eric Jackson (UCSC), WOMEN: Riley Martel-Phillips (UCSC)

Sept 25: MEN: Ian Chen (Pratt), WOMEN: Christina Sancho-Spore (Pratt)

Oct 2: MEN: Casey Orton (UCSC), WOMEN: Alyssa Santoro (SU)