Sept. 23, 2002

BELLINGHAM, Wash. - Western Washington University's Paul Kezes has been named Great Northwest Athletic Conference Men's Cross Country Runner of the Week for Sept. 15-21.

Kezes, a junior from Bellingham (Sehome High graduate), finished just two seconds off the course record in the winning the invitational section at the 11th annual Sundodger meet.

Kezes paced a field made up predominately of NCAA Division I runners, completing the 8-kilometer distance in 23:42, 28 seconds ahead of the next finisher. The course record of 23:40 was set by Stanford's Jonathan Riley at the 2000 Pac-10 Championships.

Kezes transferred to Western this fall from Western State CO. There he redshirted in cross country because of a stress fracture, but earned All-America honors in both indoor and outdoor track as a 1,500-meter runner, finishing third at the Division II nationals in each event.

Kezes also attended Clackamas CC (Ore.), earning junior college All-America honors in track as he won the Northwest Athletic Association of Community College's 1,500-meter title. He also placed second at the NWAACC Cross Country Championships.

As a senior at Sehome High, Kezes finished eighth in the two mile at state and 53rd at the state cross country meet. He also attended Blaine High School where he began running cross country as a junior.