DALLAS – Rice’s Travis Dowd, who recorded his first career individual title, and All-American Grace Forbes won the seventh individual title of her career at the season-opening Rice Invitational, earned the second 2022 Conference USA Cross Country Athletes of the Week honors, presented by Blenders Eyewear.

C-USA Male Athlete of the Week – Travis Dowd, Rice, Junior, Austin, Texas
Dowd recorded his first career individual title and helped the Owls win the team title at the season-opening Rice Invitational last Saturday. The junior from Wallingford, Pennsylvania, won a close race by two seconds with a finish of 19:57 in the 4M race. Dowd ran at a 4:59 pace for his first-ever Top-10 finish.

C-USA Female Athlete of the Week – Grace Forbes, Rice, Junior, Wallingford, Pa.
Forbes helped lead the Owls to a team victory by winning the overall individual title with a time of 13:38, nearly 30 seconds faster than the next closest competitor.  She was the lone runner to break a 3:30/K pace. The victory was the seventh of Forbes' illustrious career. The Rice women were receiving votes in the USTFCCCA Preseason Poll and ranked second in the South-Central region.

2022 C-USA Male Athletes of the Week
S6           Nick Scudder, Charlotte  
S13         Travis Dowd, Rice
 
2022 C-USA Female Athletes of the Week
S6           Naomy Limatukei, Middle Tennessee
S13         Grace Forbes, Rice