After starting the season with an all-around strong performance at Minnesota's Roy Griak Invitational on Friday in Minneapolis, the Valparaiso University men's and women's cross country programs were rewarded on Tuesday by sweeping the Missouri Valley Conference weekly awards.
 
Sophomore Joey Yaros (Bloomington, Ill. / Normal Community) was named the MVC Runner of the Week on the men's side, while sophomore Samantha Rowley (Barrington, Ill. / Barrington) took home the honor for the women.


 
Yaros placed 18th of 212 in the men's 8k at a meet hosted by a Big Ten program, Minnesota's Roy Griak Invitational in Fort Snelling, Minn. on Friday. He posted a time of 24:20.6, establishing a new PR and notching the third-fastest time in program history. 
 
Rowley led the team in the women's 6k on Friday, improving her personal best from last season with a time of 20:52.2 that now ranks second in program history. She finished 26th of 240 in a competitive race. The sophomore turned in the fastest 6k by a Valpo woman since Laura Rolf's 2006 program record. 
 
Yaros and Rowley led an effort that saw six total Beacons crack the program's all-time top-10 in their respective events. Yaros became the first Valpo runner to win the Men's Runner of the Week award in cross country since Evan Walda on Sept. 6, 2023. Rowley became the first Valpo woman to earn this honor since the program joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 2017. The last Valpo woman to garner a league weekly award was Jessica Richardson in the Horizon League in 2014.
 
The Beacons will continue their season on Friday, Oct. 2 at Notre Dame's Joe Piane Invite.