Sept. 8, 2010

Sophomore Gina Butler (Dracut, Mass.) was named the Women’s Athlete of the Week while freshman Andrew Stamatopoulos (Methuen, Mass.) was named the Men’s Rookie of the Week as the Northeast-10 Conference announced its cross country weekly award winners Tuesday.

Led by Butler and Stamatopoulos, the UMass Lowell women and men each placed second Saturday at the Keene State Alumni Invitational, the season-opening meet.

Butler ran the two-mile course in 12 minutes, 25 seconds to place fifth in the 67-runner field. She led four River Hawks in the top 11 places.

Stamatopoulos placed eighth overall and fourth among scoring runners in the men’s 5K-plus in 16:35 as the River Hawks had all seven runners in the top 16 places.

UMass Lowell returns to action Saturday, Sept. 18 at the UMass Dartmouth Invitational.