Natalia Ruiz MW Athlete of the Week

Women's Cross Country Kelsey Olsen

Ruiz Named MW Women's Cross Country Athlete Of The Week... Again

LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) – UNLV's Natalia Ruiz was named the Mountain West Athlete of the Week for the second consecutive week, the league announced Tuesday. 

This marks the fifth MW weekly award of the sophomore's career, earning MW Freshman Athlete of the Week three times during the 2021 season and being named the MW Female Athlete of the Week for two consecutive weeks this season. 

Ruiz, a native of Madrid, Spain, set a school record in the women's 6k at the Santa Clara Bronco Invitational Saturday morning with a time of 19:49.0, shattering the previous program record set in 2000 by 49 seconds (20:38.0).

The psychology major was aggressive at the start and went out with the lead pack finishing fourth overall, less than four seconds away from third and over six seconds ahead from fifth place. The first place time for this race was 19:36.2, less than 13 seconds separated first place from fourth. 

The race was contested at Baylands Park in the Golden State and marked the end of regular-season for the UNLV cross country team, Natalia concluded the season pacing the Scarlet & Gray in all four contests this season.

QUOTABLE: "Really happy and proud of Natalia for earning the honors for the second week in a row. I'm especially proud of her for breaking the school record, Katie Barto is a distance legend around here, so to replace her name in the 6k is definitely something special. I believe she will only continue to break the record as she is only a sophomore, I'm really looking forward to seeing more of what she is capable of in the future. Really happy that the conference is honoring her with this award." - head coach Dorian Scott

NEXT FOR THE REBELS: UNLV will compete at the MW Championships which are slated for Oct. 28 in Laramie, Wyoming, followed by the NCAA Regionals two weeks later in Seattle, Washington on Nov. 11.

-UNLV-
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