Lewis University’s Sean Smith has been named the first Great Lakes Valley Conference Runner of the Week for the 2012 men’s cross country season, it was announced by the conference office on Tuesday. Smith placed third overall at the Illini Challenge last week with a 6K-time of 18:45.

Smith, a junior from Winnebago, Ill., was the top Division II runner to finish the race, which also helped the Flyers to a third-place result in the eight-team field on Friday.

Smith earns the first GLVC Runner of the Week award of his career and he is the first Flyer to garner the weekly accolade since Andrew McLain on Sept. 27, 2011.