AVE MARIA, Fla.- Ave Maria senior cross country runner Gabriel Hogan was named the Sun Conference Runner of the Week on Monday afternoon, as announced by the conference office. The honor is the first of the season for the Gyrene program, and marks the seventh time in Hogan's AMU career where he has been named the top runner in the conference.

In his four-year career at Ave Maria, Hogan was named the conference runner of the week once as a freshman, twice as a sophomore, and three times as a junior. Before Hogan's arrival on campus, the only runner in program history to earn Runner of the Week honors was Marya Haegler, who did it twice during the 2010 season.

Hogan was the leading runner for the Gyrenes at the USCB Sand Shark Invitational, hosted in Hardeeville, South Carolina by the University of South Carolina Beaufort. The senior finished the 8k course in a time of 26:26.07, good for fourth place overall. Hogan's finish was his fastest time since last season's National Championships, and was recorded as the third best time in school history.

The senior helped the Gyrenes to a sixth place finish in the field, including third among the six Sun Conference teams in the race. Hogan was the lead runner of all Sun Conference entrants on Saturday morning in South Carolina, as runners from AMU, USCB, SCAD Savannah, Keiser, Warner, and St. Thomas took part.

Ave Maria will return to Jasper Park in two weeks' time for the 2019 Sun Conference Championships. The November 9 race will determine national qualifiers, as well as this season's conference champions. Hogan will be attempting to become the only athlete, in any sport, in Ave Maria history to compete for a national championship in every season of his career. The men's race will lead off the action at 8:00 a.m., with the women's race concluding the day at 8:45 a.m.