Armstrong Big West Athlete of the Week

UC Irvine senior Amanda Armstrong, who endured an Achilles’ tendon

injury last spring, has been named the Big West Conference Athlete of

the Week in women’s cross country after leading the Anteaters to a

fifth-place finish of 33 teams in the Stanford Invitational Saturday.

Armstrong finished 29th out of 234 runners with a time of 22:09

over 6,000 meters at the Stanford University Golf Course.

“She was injured during track season and then she came back

strong,” UCI cross country coach Vince O’Boyle said. “That just shows

you the type of kid she is. A year ago, you would look at her and you

would see her as our fourth or fifth girl. But this year she has

really stepped up and made a great improvement over the year. Her

work ethic, that’s what has made a big difference.”

The UCI cross country teams are idle from competition this weekend

before traveling to La Jolla for the UC San Diego Invitational Oct.

12.