UTM senior Ryan Ford was rewarded for his impressive performance in the season opener at the Redhawks Invitational by being named Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Cross Country Runners of the Week.
Ford, a native of Huntsville, Alabama, won his second career individual title in a field of 54 competitors at the Redhawks Invitational held at Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau, Missouri last weekend. Ford ran a personal-best 8k time of 24:16.4 which ranked fifth in program history and 13 seconds ahead of second place.
His performance helped the Skyhawks take first place in a field of five teams, including Memphis and three other OVC schools (Eastern Illinois, host Southeast Missouri and SIUE).
This marks the Skyhawks first OVC Male Cross Country Runner of the Week honor since the 2017 campaign.
Ford and the Skyhawks will return to action on Friday, Feb. 5 at the FSU Winter XC Classic in Tallahassee, Florida, while sending part of its squad to the Murray State Open in Murray, Kentucky.
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