IRVINE, Calif. – Hawai'i Pacific University collected a haul as three Sharks were selected to weekly honors in the first release of the PacWest Conference Men's and Women's Cross Country Runners of the Week by the league office.
HPU senior
Lukas Motschmann of Magdeburg, Germany/Sportgymnasium and junior
Robyn Kaltenbrunn of Johannesburg, South Africa/Benoni were named the PacWest Men's and Women's Runner of the Week respectively for the week of Aug. 26-Sept. 1 that was released on Tuesday.
Sharks freshman
Jona Bodirsky of Muhlhausen, Germany/Leibniz Gymnasium Ostringen was honored as the PacWest Men's Freshman of the Week for both Aug. 26-Sept. 1 and Sept. 2-8.
Motschmann won the first NCAA collegiate cross country competition last week in winning the University of Hawai'i Big Wave Invitational men's race. Motschmann covered the 5K course in 15:10 in taking the victory in leading HPU to a second place finish.
Kaltenbrunn was the top Division II runner in the women's contest at the UH Big Wave, clocking a time of 19:41 on the 5K Kahuku course.
Bodirsky shined as the top freshman runner for both weeks. He placed second in in first-ever collegiate race behind Motschmann at the Big Wave, clocking a time of 16:27. Then last Saturday ran a 26:15.78 to place 31st in the Biola Invitational in the field of 193 runners. He was the second Shark across the line to help HPU finish ninth of 18 teams in the race.
The Sharks remained on the mainland to race on Saturday at the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Challenge. The first of the two races is slated to start at 5:30 a.m. HST (8:30 a.m. PDT).
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