OKLAHOMA CITY (Oct. 6, 2019) – Obliterating her personal-best time for a 5,000-meter cross country race earned Oklahoma Christian's Kelsey Castillo recognition Sunday as the Eagle of the Week.

Castillo, a senior from Edmond, led the Eagles with a 12th-place finish among 351 runners in the second women's collegiate race in the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark., on Saturday. Her time of 18:33.6 was more than 48 seconds better than her previous time in a 5K cross country race of 19:20.7, which she ran in September 2018 in the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin, Mo.

It was Castillo's third career top-15 individual finish in a cross country race and her second this season. Her performance helped the Eagles record a solid eighth-place finish among 41 teams in Saturday's race.

The Eagle of the Week award recognizes the top performer in OC athletics for the previous week. The honor is presented each week at least one OC athletic team is in competition.

PREVIOUS WINNERS FOR 2019-20:
Sept. 8 – Thomas van der Meulen, men's soccer
Sept. 15 – Andres Brictson, men's golf
Sept. 22 – Cheyenne Parks, women's swimming
Sept. 29 – Andres Brictson, men's golf
Oct. 6 – Kelsey Castillo, women's cross country