The women shined this weekend as Illinois State took first-place as a team at the Illinois Intercollegiates after having four of their runners place in the top-five, including the first-place champion.  Aliphine Tuliamuk claimed top-honors at the Woody-Greeno/Nebraska Invitational in a field of 283 runners, giving her the fastest 6k MVC time by 44.9 seconds.  The men saw several great performances including the fastest 8k time for a school since 2005 and a career-best time.

This week’s State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Athletes of the Week are Ryan Rutherford of Illinois State and Aliphine Tuliamuk of Wichita State.  Tuliamuk earns her second Athlete of the Week honor of the 2011 season.

State Farm MVC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week
Ryan Rutherford, Freshman, Bloomington, Ill. - Illinois State
In a field of 323 participants, freshman Ryan Rutherford ran to an overall 12th-place finish (fifth-place in the University Division), shaving 2 minutes and seven seconds off his time from last week in his second 8k ever. His new career-mark of 24:56 is the second-fastest time of any Illinois State men’s runner at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships in the last three years. The closest Redbird runner to Rutherford was John Navarro who finished 29th with a time of 25:13.

State Farm MVC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week
Aliphine Tuliamuk, Junior, Kapenguria, Kenya - Wichita State
Aliphine Tuliamuk finished in first-place with a time of 21:09.0 in the women’s 6K at the 22nd annual Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational. Tuliamuk finished more than 16 seconds ahead of the second-place competitor in a field of 283 women. Saturday’s win marked Tuliamuk’s second of the season in as many meets. She opened the season by winning the J.K. Gold Classic in Augusta, Kan., earlier this month.

Other notable performances:
Marshall Moyer, Bradley
Marshall Moyer finished 10th overall at the Illinois Intercollegiate, clocking the fastest 8K time by a Bradley men’s runner in nearly six years.  He covered the course in a time of 25:06, marking the fastest performance by a Brave since the 2005 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Cross Country Championship.

Chris Culhane, Creighton
In his first race of the fall, Chris Culhane finished 45th at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational. Culhane had a time of 26:32 on the 8k course as Creighton finished 18th in the 28 team men’s division.

Jeremiah Vaughan, Indiana State
Senior Jeremiah Vaughan ran to a career-best finish in the Indiana Intercollegiates last Friday as he completed the 8k in 25:00 to finish fourth overall out of 169 runners competing. It was the highest finish by a Sycamore runner at the Intercollegiates since 2007 when Randy Placencia was third.

Brett Egan, Northern Iowa
UNI junior Brett Egan clocked an 8k time of 26:38.90 to claim seventh-place overall at the Iowa Invitational. After leading the Panthers in the dual meet with Iowa, Egan has now finished in the No. 1 or No. 2 spot for the Panthers in every meet in which he has competed in 2010 and 2011.

Marcos Bailon, Wichita State
Marcos Bailon paced the Shocker men for the second meet in a row in the men’s 8k at the 22nd annual Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational.  Bailon finished in 18th place overall with a time of 25:41.7 in a field of 305 men on a soft and wet Pioneer Park course.

Sarah McMahon, Bradley
Sarah McMahon ran the fifth-fastest 5k time in school history, finishing seventh at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships Friday.  McMahon turned in a time 17:57 to pace the Braves in their second meet of the year.  She has paced BU in each of her first two races.

Courtney Sawle, Creighton
For the second time in three races this fall, Courtney Sawle was the first to cross the line for the Jays as she ran her first 6k race in 23:06, good for 37th overall.

Kirsta DeCeault, Illinois State
Freshman Krista DeCeault led her team to a first-place finish at Illinois State’s only home event of the year, the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships, leading wire-to-wire and never looking back. This was DeCeault’s first ever collegiate race at the 5K distance, and it proved to be no challenge for her as she took the top-spot in a field of 291 participants, running an impressive 17:09, 15 seconds faster than teammate and runner-up Elise Sigg.

Kacie Klem, Indiana State
Senior Kacie Klem ran a personal best 18:01 to finish in fifth-place out of 169 runners at the 2011 Indiana Intercollegiates. Klem’s time is the 16th best all-time in the 5K at Indiana State and her fifth-place finish is the highest Sycamore finish in the Intercollegiate since Kayla Alexander finished fourth in 2007.

Scotti Schon, Northern Iowa
Junior Scotti Schon led the UNI women’s contingent at the Iowa Invitational, taking ninth-place overall by finishing the 3k course in 10:48.70. Schon has been either the No. 1 or No. 2 finisher in each meet for UNI this season. She owns the fastest 3k time by a Valley runner this year.