ROCHESTER, N.Y. –  RIT men's cross country senior Derick Koen was named the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association's (USTFCCCA) NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country National Athlete of the Week, Monday.

Koen finished first out of 213 runners to lead RIT to a first-place finish out of sixteen teams at Houghton's Highlander Invitational on October 11th. The senior ran the course in 24:42 to beat out unattached runner Jared Smith (24.45) and Lock Haven's Jakob Rager (24.49).

The senior has won this race three consecutive seasons, as the Tigers have now won the Highlander Invitational for the past four years.

Koen and the Tigers complete the regular season this coming Saturday (Oct. 18) when they will compete in Oberlin's (Ohio) Inter-Regional Rumble.

Last season, Koen earned the same honor twice after crossing the finish line first at St. John Fisher's Terry M. Rodenbeck Invitational and the Highlander Invitational.

This is the sixth time in program history that a male athlete from RIT has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the cross country season. Koen joins two-time honoree Otto Kingstedt (2017 and 2018) as well as Aleksi Bingham (2019) in that regard.

National Athlete of the Week is an award selected and presented by the USTFCCCA Communications Staff at the beginning of each week to 14 collegiate cross country athletes, when applicable (male and female for each of the three NCAA divisions, the NAIA and the NJCAA).