Oct. 31, 2012

CHICAGO - UIC women's cross country runner Tess Ehrhardt has been selected as the UICFlames.com Student-Athlete of the Week for the period of Oct. 22-28. The sophomore piloted the women's team to a runner-up finish at the 2012 Horizon League Championships, a program best, last Saturday.

Ehrhardt also collected the team's highest individual finish since 2006 as she placed sixth overall and earned a spot on the All-League first team. Her 5K time of 18:20 serves as a new personal best and just missed a top-three finish by six seconds.

"Tess is consistently one of the hardest workers on the team," said head coach Jim Knoedel. "She is always doing the little things that make her successful. She has been the athlete that always comes through in the clutch at big meets."

Ehrhardt began the year as the Flames' top runner at the UIC Home Opener, but was then plagued by illness for the middle portion of the season. In just three weeks, she shaved nearly a full minute off of her 5K time after she was welcomed back to the lineup on Oct. 6.

"Tess fought through a lot of adversity this year, but stayed on task and came out with a tremendous performance at the Horizon League meet," said Knoedel.

The Geneva, Ill., native is the second cross country runner to earn the UICFlames.com award (Billy Clink, Sept. 5), but the first from the women's team.