APPLETON, Wis. -- Lawrence University cross country standouts Mila Westra and Nick Hansen swept the Midwest Conference Performer of the Week honors.
    The weekly awards came after the Lawrence men won the team title at the Ken Weidt Classic at Concordia University Wisconsin and the women finished second.
    Hansen (St. Joseph, Minn./St. John's Prep) paced the Lawrence men by finishing second as he covered the 8,000 meters in 26:30.8, and Lawrence completed its scoring by finishing fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. This was the top finish in an 8,000-meter race in Hansen's career and the second time he has finished second in an event, which he did at the 2024 Tom Barry Invitational at St. Norbert. 
    This is the first Performer of the Week award for Hansen and the first for the Lawrence men since Finn Lee captured the honor on Oct. 15, 2024.
    It was a dominating performance for the Vikings, who posted the lowest team score in the 16-year tenure of head coach Jason Fast. The Vikings defeated the entire field of teams and Concordia Wisconsin was a distant second with 62 points.
    Westra (Beaver Dam, Wis./Beaver Dam) raced to third place and led Lawrence to a second-place finish. Westra finished the 6,000 meters in 22:52.6 to lead the Vikings to the runner-up spot. Westra matched the second-highest finish of her college career as she also took third at the 2024 Midwest Conference Championships. Her top finish is second place at Lawrence's 2024 Gene Davis Invitational.
    This was the first cross country Performer of the Week award for Westra and the third of her career (she has two Performer of the Week awards in track and field). This is the first women's Performer of the Week award this season for the Vikings, who took the honor four times in 2024.
    Lawrence returns to action on Friday when the Vikings travel to the UW-Oshkosh Titan Fall Classic.