FAIRBANKS - Naomi Bailey is bringing home a pair of conference and national honors. The sophomore runner from Fairbanks, Alaska has been named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week and the USTFCCCA NCAA Division II Women's National Runner of the Week. 

These two awards come after her victory in University Park, Wash. at the Division II Pre-Nationals race, hosted by Seattle Pacific. This was her second career win at Alaska, with her first coming last season at the Seawolf Throwdown in a dual-meet with UAA. This is Bailey's first-career Invitational victory. She claimed victory at the Pre-Nationals race in 20:46.1, racing to a personal-best 6k time and knocking-off the second-place finisher, Katie Doucette of Western Colorado, by a full nine seconds. She led three Alaska runners who also placed in the top-20; Kendall Kramer took sixth (21:03.40) and Rosie Fordham took 18th (21:40.90).

"It is hard to put into words how brilliant Naomi's race on Saturday was." said graduate assistant coach Josh Sanderlin, "I think it's sometimes lost on people how intense distance racing really is, and to go as fast as you can for six kilometers is an intrinsically challenging task, so to do so at a high level is daunting. Immensely talented, highly trained athletes are all clashing in a way that usually leads to a victor escaping with a slim margin of victory. Naomi led the majority of the race and had a nine second gap on second place. The Pre-Nationals race featured some of the fastest women in the country. Naomi beat them all in a convincing, dominant, and yet humble manner. This race will send shockwaves throughout the country; the Alaskans are here."

This is Bailey's second GNAC Cross Country honor and first of this season and this is the Nanooks' second of the season; Kendall Kramer earned the honor on Monday, Aug. 29 after hosting UAA for the Blue/Gold Meet. 

A few hours after being named the GNAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week, news broke that Bailey earned the USTFCCCA Division II National Women's Athlete of the Week award. Not only was this Bailey's first career USTFCCCA National honor, but it was the first time in program history an athlete from the Nanooks has been named M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week during the cross country season. Sanderlin added this on Bailey's national honor, "Naomi is a hard-worker with a great approach to running. Seattle Pacific put on a great race, it was quite professional, and it set the stage for great performances. Judging by the way Naomi trains, this performance was in no way surprising, but that makes it no less awe-inspiring."

Bailey and the Nanooks return to action on Saturday, Nov. 5 for the GNAC Championships at Western Oregon in Monmouth, Ore. 

For more information on the Alaska Nanooks cross country teams, follow @NanooksXC on Instagram or Twitter, or like the Alaska Nanooks XC team page on Facebook.