Men's Cross Country | 2/18/2021 8:00:00 AM

    NEW ORLEANS – When West Liberty University junior Phil White ran away from the field at Saturday's North Carolina Wesleyan Classic in Rocky Mount, N.C., it was a little more special than the run of the mill cross country victory.
    In fact, it was positively historic.
    White was honored late Tuesday night as the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division II National Athlete of the Week. The former Mountain East Conference Freshman of the Year and All-Region selection is the first West Liberty runner ever to receive National Athlete of the Week honors.
    The USTFCCCA National Athlete of the Week Award seeks to highlight not only the very best times, marks and scores on a week-to-week basis, but also performances that were significant on the national landscape and/or the latest in a series of strong outings. Quality of competition, suspenseful finishes and other factors also play a role in the decision.
    White certainly checked off all of those boxes as weather conditions for Saturday's race bordered on the extreme.
    A cold hard rain had soaked the course, leaving long stretches of standing water on the trail in multiple locations. Temperatures hovered in the mid-30s with wind chills well below freezing as the runners toed the starting line but White took off at the opening gun and never looked back.
    He splashed across the finish line on the 5,000-meter course in just 15:57.5 – nearly 35 seconds ahead of his closest pursuers – to lead a 1-2-3 finish for Coach Justin Simpson's Hilltoppers, who breezed to a team title in their first outing of the season.
    Joining White as this week's USTFCCCA National Runners of the Week were:
    - NCAA Division I Men: Hochine Bouchrak, High Point
    - NCAA Division I Women: Shanley Koekemoer, Campbell
    - NCAA Division II Women: Calli Beshore, Arkansas Tech
    - NCAA Division III Men: Ben Camuel, Centre
    - NCAA Division III Women: Amelia Lorrey, Centre
    White and his West Liberty teammates are idle this weekend but return to action on Feb. 26 when they head to Charleston to compete in the Golden Eagle Invitational at Coonskin Park.