Sept. 19, 2006

New Orleans, La. - Florida Atlantic University cross country runner Friederike Feil was named Sun Belt Runner of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday.

The freshman finished third at the Gator Invitational held in Gainesville over the weekend. Her mark of 17:48.93 in the women's 5K broke the FAU school record of 17:57.00 which Raynell Hagsberg set at last year's Gator Invitational. It also came on the heels of her victory in the Owls' first meet of the year, the Nova Southeastern Invitational.

"It's historic on many levels because it's the first award in our new conference, and it's the first time our program has had a freshman win an all-conference award," said head cross country coach Alex Smolka. "It's even more special because it was just her second 5K ever."

The Owls' next meet is on Sept. 29th, when they travel to Dade City to participate in the FLrunners.com Invitational.