SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Furman’s Bethany Graham is the Southern Conference women’s cross country runner of the week for the third time in four weeks and fellow Paladin Daniel Bernal is the SoCon men’s cross country runner of the week for the second time this season after their performances at the Joe Piane Invitational on Friday.
 
Selections were made by panels of the league’s cross country coaches and included all competition from Sept. 29 to Oct. 5.
 
Graham turned in a personal-best 5K time of 16:41.2 to claim 17^th place in a field of 192 runners at the prestigious meet hosted by Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. The sophomore from Aldie, Virginia, paced the 29^th-ranked Paladins to a 10^th-place finish in the loaded 25-team meet, which saw top-ranked NC State, No. 3 New Mexico and No. 6 Alabama claim the top three spots. Furman finished ahead of several Power 5 programs, including No. 21 Illinois, No. 19 Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Vanderbilt, Florida and Virginia.
 
Bernal also competed at the Joe Piane Invitational, leading the 19^th-ranked Paladins to a team win with a score of 129 points to finish atop the 23-team field, which included nine other top-30 ranked schools. The senior from El Paso, Texas, led the way for Furman with a 12^th-place individual finish, turning in a time of 23:45.5 in the five-mile race. The award is Bernal’s second in three weeks, as he claimed the SoCon weekly on Sept. 22, as well, and is the third weekly cross country award of his career.
 
Graham and Bernal are also the reigning SoCon Runners of the Month for their efforts in September.
 
Furman, whose men’s team jumped nine spots to No. 10 in the USTFCCCA national poll and whose women moved up one spot to No. 28, returns to action Friday at the Queens Royal Challenge in Charlotte, North Carolina.
 
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
 
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