BELLEVILLE, Ill. – Webster University cross country swept the inaugural St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Runner of the Week Awards for the 2019 season on Tuesday afternoon as junior Kalleigh Linthicum (Lake St. Louis, Mo./Timberland) and freshman Cameron Sakuma (O'Fallon, Mo./Fort Zumwalt West) took home the Women's and Men's Runner of the Week honors respectively.

Linthicum earns her first career SLIAC Runner of the Week accolade after running a school record 4k time of 15:11.4 on Friday at the WIU Early Bird Invitational in Macomb, Ill. At the event, Linthicum's time allowed her to finish in 10th place overall, which was her four career Top 20 finish. The time of 15:11.4 bettered the old school mark of 15:15 held by Valerie Martin, which was set at the WashU Early Bird in 2014.

Her performance helped the Gorloks to a fourth place finish out of five teams at the season opening event hosted by Western Illinois University. In the season opening event, Webster scored 92 points as they had four of its Top 7 runners place inside the Top 25 as along with Linthicum, freshman Danielle Schultz (Swansea, Ill./Belleville East) placed 20th overall with a time of 15:47.9, which was the third fastest 4K time in school history, while freshman Kaitlin Higgins (Fenton, Mo./Rockwood Summit) was 23rd overall with a time of 16:19.

Meanwhile, Sakuma earns his first career SLIAC Men's Runner of the Week accolade after placing seventh overall at Friday's season opening WIU Early Bird Invitational in Macomb, Ill. In his first collegiate cross country meet, Sakuma ran a time of 20:31.5 to place seventh in the 6K event hosted by Western Illinois University.

Sakuma's performance helped the Gorloks finish in third place out of four team at the season opening event. At the event, Webster scored 63 points as they were 12 behind second place WIU, who tallied 51 points. The Gorloks had three other runners besides Sakuma finish inside the Top 15 as sophomore Javier Cervantes (Garden City, Kan./Garden City) placed 11th with a 6K time of 20:50.8, while sophomore Eli Guzman (Parkville, Mo./Park Hill South) was 13th with a personal best 6K time of 21:18.5 and freshman Kaelin Triggs (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville) was 15th with a time of 21:24 in his first collegiate meet. 

Linthicum, Sakuma and the rest of the Gorloks women's and men's cross country teams will return to action on Saturday, Sept. 14 as they travel to Grinnell, Iowa, to compete in the Les Duke Invitational hosted by Grinnell College.