Conference USA announced early Tuesday afternoon that WKU’s Savannah Heckman earned the league’s Cross Country Female Athlete of the Week honor.

The nod from the conference comes after Heckman’s performance at the Memphis Twilight Classic on Saturday night. 

Heckman led her team to a fifth-place finish at the season opener, where she also set a personal record of 17:54.66 in the 5k. 

Individually, she placed seventh out of 193 other runners from top schools that included C-USA rivals UAB and Middle Tennessee as well as SEC powerhouses Alabama, Ole Miss and Mississippi State. 

This is the first time since 2015 that a cross country athlete from WKU has won the weekly award, and the first time since 2014 that a Hilltopper has been named female athlete of the week.  Previously, Katie Lever received the honor the week of Oct. 21, 2014. 

Heckman and her team will be heading to Nashville next week on Friday, Sept. 17 for the Commodore Classic hosted by Vanderbilt.

Sports reporter Lynda Eernisse can be reached at [email protected].