ARKANSAS TECH'S AOIFE COOKE NAMED GSC'S WOMEN'S
CROSS COUNTRY RUNNER OF THE WEEK

        CONWAY, Arkansas – Arkansas Tech’s Aoife Cooke has been named the Gulf South Conference’s Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week on Tuesday.

Cooke, a junior from Youghal, Ireland, won the honor after taking home first place honors last Saturday at the Orange Crush Invitational hosted by Hendrix College.

At the meet, Cooke, who was Tech’s first-ever NCAA Division II All-American in cross country last year, ran a time of 19:21 over the 5,000-meter course at the Orange Crush Invitational. Her winning time was nearly 35 seconds in front of second-place finisher, Whitney Welch of Central Arkansas.

“It was nice to finally get Aoife out and running in competition after she sat our first meet of the season,” Tech Cross Country Coach Tom Aspel said.

Cooke’s individual title helped the Golden Suns finish fourth as a team as they scored 93 points.

In addition to Cooke, sophomore Kayla Waldrup (El Dorado, Ark.) finished in ninth place, giving Tech two top 10 finishers at the meet. Waldrup ran the 5K race in a time of 21:03.

Cooke and her Golden Sun teammates return to action on Saturday, Sept. 30 when they compete at the West Florida Invitational in Pensacola, Fla. The meet will be held on the same course that this year’s NCAA Division II National Championship Meet will be run at.

           -- Tech Athletics --