Liberty League Release | RPI Athletics on Facebook

TROY, N.Y. - Coming off impressive efforts at the Division III Men's Cross Country Championship Meet, a pair of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) student-athletes have been recognized with weekly awards by the Liberty League. Junior Grant O'Connor, who finished fourth overall, has been named the Performer of the Week, while freshman Jake Davis, who also helped the Engineers to a 14th place finish, was chosen as the Rookie of the Week.

O'Connor (West Hartford, CT / Hall) ran the 8K North Farm Cross Country Course at Principia College in Illinois in 24:19.35. Now a two-time NCAA All-America, he had splits of 4:56.81, 4:46.52, 5:02.42, 4:54.19 and 4:39.42 while running with the lead pack the entire race. He was five seconds from third place (24:14.15) and one second in front of the fifth place finisher (24:20.60). There were 279 runners in the event.

This is the fifth Liberty League Performer of the Week award for O'Connor, who was selected as the Atlantic Region Athlete of the Year last week. An electrical engineering major, he finished 25th in the 2016 championship meet, crossing in 24:27.3 for the 13th place Engineers.

Davis (Woodbine, NJ / Ocean City) is now a three-time Rookie of the Week after he finished 192nd in the NCAA Meet. He crossed in 26:00.97 to place sixth on the team and register a score of 143. He was less than two seconds from 189th (25:58.95) and less than a second from the 193rd place finisher (26:01.14). A physics major, Davis was first honored in late September when he was third on the team and 21st overall with a 6K time of 27:02.6 at the 26-school Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams College. RPI placed second in that meet, which featured 324 competitors. He was also honored in mid-October after finishing fourth on the team and 15th overall with a time of 25:53.5 at Connecticut College. He registered a mile pace of 5:12.5 en route to being the second freshman to finish. 

RPI, which is coached by John Lynch, had a total of 382 points on Saturday to place 14th nationally, 34 points in front of 15th place Middlebury College. Williams was 13th with 359 and Calvin College was 12th with 353. North Central College won the national championship with a score of 57.