SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Furman’s Cameron Ponder and ETSU’s Lindsey Stallworth are the SoCon men’s and women’s cross country runners of the week, respectfully.
 
Selections were made by panels of the league’s cross country coaches and included all competition from Oct. 13-19.
 
Ponder ran a career-best 8K time of 23:55.1 to finish 37th of 246 at the prestigious Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday. The junior from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, helped the Paladins to a ninth-place finish in the 32-team field, which featured 17 teams ranked in the national top 30, including Furman, meet winner No. 6 Iowa State and runner-up No. 3 Stanford. The weekly award is Ponder’s second for cross country in his career, with the first coming earlier this season.
 
Stallworth cruised to a dominating victory at the Golden Eagle Invitational in Cookeville, Tennessee, on Friday, winning the 5K race in 17:54.6, more than 46 seconds ahead of the runner-up. The redshirt junior from Knoxville, Tennessee, who won her third collegiate cross country race, paced three Bucs in the top 10, helping the squad to a second-place team finish behind host Tennessee Tech in the 59-runner, seven-team field. The weekly award is the second of the season for Stallworth and the third of her career.
 
Furman’s men’s team, ranked No. 16 in the latest USTFCCCA national poll, and the ETSU women’s team both return to action at the Southern Conference Cross Country Championships in Lexington, Virginia, on Oct. 30.
 
2021 Southern Conference Cross Country Men’s Runners of the Week
Sept. 8             Matt Scarr, ETSU
Sept. 15            Cameron Ponder, Furman
Sept. 22            Daniel Bernal, Furman
Sept. 29            Sam Sharnas, The Citadel
Oct. 6               Daniel Bernal, Furman
Oct. 13             Adam Beucler, Furman
Oct. 20             Cameron Ponder, Furman
 
2021 Southern Conference Cross Country Women’s Runners of the Week
Sept. 8             Lindsey Stallworth, ETSU
Sept. 15            Bethany Graham, Furman
Sept. 22            Bethany Graham, Furman
Sept. 29            Heidi Fortin, The Citadel
Oct. 6               Bethany Graham, Furman
Oct. 13             Heidi Fortin, The Citadel
Oct. 20             Lindsey Stallworth, ETSU