Oct. 7, 2009

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - NJIT's Umar Saeed and South Dakota's Ramsey Fitzsimmons have been selected as Great West Conference Runners of the Week. The awards were announced Wednesday by the conference office.

Fitzsimmons, a senior from Yankton, S.D., finished 10th in the South Dakota State Classic at Brookings, S.D. She was the first runner not from Minnesota or Kansas State to cross the line, as she completed the 6K race in 18:02. She helped her team to a fifth place finish in a meet that included Minnesota, Kansas State, South Dakota State, North Dakota State and Great West foe North Dakota.

On the men's side, Saeed, a senior from Parlin, N.J., finished second in a time of 25:06 at the Brooks Paul Short Run at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., last Friday. The 8K race featured 322 runners from such schools as Indiana, South Florida, Manhattan, Quinnipiac, Rider, Monmouth, Hofstra and Colgate.

Other runners nominated for this week's honors were Seattle's Hans Heitzinger and Rachel Yorkston and South Dakota's Rob Gregoire.