By Nate Perry, TTU Sports Information

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech cross country has competed in two meets so far in the 2018 season, and Purity Sanga has now been tabbed as the OVC's Female Runner of the Week after each of them.

Sanga's second consecutive honor comes on the heels of a school-record women's five-kilometer performance at the Vanderbilt Commodore Classic, where she clocked a time of 17-minutes, 20.7-seconds.

That result beat Micayla Rennick's old program mark (17:29.8) from October 29, 2016 by more than nine ticks of the clock, and made Sanga responsible for four of the top 10 times in TTU women's cross country history.

The sophomore's pace was also good enough for second place overall out of 186 runners at the Commodore, the highest finish at a "big meet" in Sanga's career.

Louisville's Dorcas Wasike, a 2017 United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches' Association All-American, was the only female athlete faster than Sanga at the meet, finishing in a blistering 17:09.4.

The runner-up finish also established Sanga as a contender for an OVC individual championship, as it was the highest of all runners from the five conference schools in attendance. That group included Eastern Kentucky's Lilian Kiborus, who finished three spots ahead of Sanga at last year's league championships.

Sanga has been Tech's top finisher in all eight career meets, and has now posted top-eight finishes in six of them.

Her record 5K time was also her first under the 17:30 plateau.

Photo by Thomas Corhern