INDIANAPOLIS – UW-Parkside’s junior Evan Lewandowski and senior Jessica Watychowicz have been respectively named the Great Lakes Valley Conference men’s and women’s cross country Runners of the Week, it was announced Tuesday by the conference office.  Lewandowski and Watychowicz paced both UW-Parkside programs at the Rangers’ Lucian Rosa Invitational, held last Saturday at the Wayne E. Dannehl National Cross Country Course.

Watychowicz, a Burbank, Ill., native, recorded the fastest course time ever by any UW-Parkside athlete with a time of 17:24.1 – the top 5K time in the GLVC this year.  She was the first runner across the finish line by three seconds Saturday, helping her team to a fifth-place finish overall.

This is the first weekly accolade for Watychowicz, and the first award for the Rangers since Hope Christie won back on Oct. 27, 2011.

The Rangers are idle this weekend before competing at the GLVC Championships on Oct. 20 in Springfield, Mo.