Drop, Yanek Earn SEC Weekly Honors

ATHENS, Ga. --- A pair of Georgia cross country runners have earned weekly Southeastern Conference honors following the teams' season-opening Bulldog Invitational at the UGA Golf Course over the weekend, according to a league announcement on Tuesday.

Junior Samantha Drop, who redshirted the 2018 season, earned SEC Women's Runner of the Week honors for the first time in her career while redshirt freshman Nicholas Yanek received Men's Co-Freshman of the Week honors alongside Arkansas' Myles Richter in Yanek's cross debut for the Bulldogs.

This marks the first SEC weekly honors in cross for Georgia since the 2017 season.  Samantha's twin sister, Jessica, was twice named the Runner of the Week that year while Jonathan Pelham (Runner of the Week) and current junior Michael Hans (Freshman of the Week) also garnered weekly honors two years ago.

Drop, a native of Durham, Conn.,returned to fall competition and opened with a victory in the 4k Bulldog Invitational on the UGA Golf Course. This marked her first cross race since earning All-America honors two years ago and was her first win since capturing the 2017 NCAA South Regional title.  Drop left the field behind by 12 seconds and clocked a 13:14.7.

Yanek, a native of Bettendorf, Iowa, ran for the first time for the UGA cross team and was the team's top finisher and 10^thoverall at the 6k Bulldog Invitational.  He finished in 18:37.9 and was Georgia's first competitor across the line and second freshman overall.

News and updates from Georgia's track and field and cross country teams are always located on Twitter/Instagram at@UGATrack.

University of Georgia Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Samantha Drop

Michael Hans

Jonathan Pelham

Nicholas Yanek

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